Words are counted by splitting the text on one or more consecutive whitespace characters (spaces, tabs, newlines). Leading/trailing whitespace is trimmed before counting. "hello world" counts as 2 words.
Does the character count include spaces?
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Yes. The character count includes all characters — letters, numbers, punctuation, spaces, and newlines. This matches how platforms like Twitter/X count characters.
Does counting update live as I type?
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Yes — the stats bar (words, characters, lines, sentences) updates in real time on every keystroke using a JavaScript input event listener. No button press required.