Truncate text
Shortens each line to a maximum length, optionally without cutting a word.
Set a maximum length and press the button. Each line longer than the limit is shortened and an ellipsis is added; shorter lines are left alone.
Word-safe by default
Cutting text at exactly 100 characters lands you in the middle of a word — "the quick brown fo…" — which looks broken. With "Do not cut mid-word" on, the cut moves back to the last complete word, so you get "the quick brown…" instead. The result is always at or under your limit, never over.
Turn it off only when the limit is truly hard and every character counts, such as a database field with a fixed width where a word boundary is irrelevant. The "Hard cut, no suffix" button does exactly that: cut at the character, add nothing.
The suffix
By default a single ellipsis character (…) is added to show that text was cut. It is one character, not three dots,
which matters when you are truncating to fit a limit — three dots eat three of your characters. Change it to
... if a system does not display the single character, or clear it entirely if you want no marker.
Remember the suffix counts toward the length. Truncating to 100 with a one-character ellipsis gives lines of at most 100 including the ellipsis, so the text itself is 99. If you need the text alone to be exactly 100, add one to the limit.
Where this is used
- Meta descriptions and titles. Trimming a batch to the length search results show — around 60 characters for titles, 160 for descriptions.
- Preview and card text. Product blurbs, list items and UI labels that must fit a fixed space.
- Social snippets. Cutting long lines to a preview length before posting.
- Database fields. Trimming values to a column's maximum before import, where the hard cut is the right choice.
- Table cells and exports. Keeping columns to a readable width.
To check which lines are over the limit before truncating, the per-line counter flags them. To cut a fixed number of characters from the start rather than the end, use remove characters.
Doing it without this tool
Excel: =LEFT(A1, 100) hard-cuts. Word-safe truncation needs
=LEFT(A1, FIND("~", SUBSTITUTE(A1, " ", "~", ...))) style trickery that few people write from memory.
Command line: cut -c1-100 file.txt hard-cuts each line;
fold -sw 100 file.txt | head -1 approximates word-safe.
CSS: for display only, text-overflow: ellipsis truncates visually without changing the text,
which is right for a web page but no help when you need the shortened text itself.
Runs entirely in your browser. Your text is never uploaded — open DevTools, Network tab, and you will see zero requests while you use this tool.
How to use it
- Paste your text into the box.
- Set the maximum number of characters.
- Leave "Do not cut mid-word" on so words stay whole.
- Press "Truncate". Remember the ellipsis counts toward the length.
Related tools
Frequently asked questions
Not with "Do not cut mid-word" ticked, which is the default. The cut moves back to the last complete word so the line stays at or under your limit. Untick it, or use "Hard cut", when the limit is truly rigid.
Yes. A line truncated to 100 with a one-character ellipsis is at most 100 including that character. Add one to the limit if the text alone must be the full length.
Because the single … character takes one character instead of three, which matters when you are truncating to fit a limit. Change it to three dots if a system cannot display the single character.
No. Only lines longer than the maximum are shortened; everything else is left exactly as it is.
It works per line, which suits lists and fields. For one continuous block, keep it on a single line or use split into chunks for length-limited pieces.