Hindi Character Counter

Count characters and words in Hindi text, the way you read them. Conjuncts such as क्ष count as one character, and vowels, consonants and matras are counted separately.

  • Devanagari aware
  • Runs in your browser
0 characters
Stays on this device

Character composition

How your text breaks down, as a share of what’s counted.

Consonants 0%
Vowels 0%
Matras 0%
Signs 0%
Latin letters 0%

How to count Hindi characters

Counting Hindi characters with this counter takes three steps.

  1. Paste your Hindi text

    Devanagari, with or without English mixed in.

  2. Read the counts

    Characters, words, sentences and each letter type update as you type.

  3. Pick the count you need

    Use “Hindi characters” for what readers see and “Unicode code points” for app and database limits.

Example

नमस्ते has 3 characters as you read it (न, म, स्ते) but 6 Unicode code points: न म स ् त े.

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Why Hindi characters are hard to count

In Hindi, what looks like one character is often several Unicode code points. A consonant with a vowel sign (मा), or a conjunct made with a halant (क्ष), is written as one unit but stored as two, three or more code points.

So a Hindi character counter has to choose. This one shows both:

  • Hindi characters: written units as a reader sees them, so क्षमा is 2 (क्ष, मा).
  • Unicode code points: every letter, vowel sign and halant, so क्षमा is 5. Many apps, forms and databases count this way, which is why they can say Hindi text is “too long”.

Hindi character count examples

These Hindi character count examples show how written characters and code points differ.

WordMeaningCharacters (as read)Unicode code points
नमस्तेhello36
क्षमाforgiveness25
हिंदीHindi25
विद्यालयschool48
प्रधानमंत्रीprime minister512

Characters as read follow modern Unicode rules for Devanagari. Older browsers may split some conjuncts into two.

What the Hindi counter separates

The Hindi character counter separates every part of Devanagari writing.

  • अ

    Vowels (स्वर)

    Independent vowels at the start of a syllable, such as अ, आ, इ.

  • क

    Consonants (व्यंजन)

    Including nukta forms such as ज़ and फ़.

  • ा

    Matras (मात्रा)

    Vowel signs attached to a consonant, such as ा, ि, ी.

  • ्

    Conjuncts (halant)

    A halant joining two consonants, as in क्ष or त्र.

  • ं

    Signs

    Anusvara (ं), chandrabindu (ँ), visarga (ः) and nukta.

Hindi character counter FAQ

How is a Hindi character counter different from an English one?

English letters are one code point each, so any counter agrees. Hindi syllables combine consonants, vowel signs and halants, so a Hindi counter has to group them into the characters people read.

Can the counter handle mixed Hindi and English text?

Yes. Hindi and English words are both counted, and Latin letters are shown separately in the composition chart.

Does a matra count as a separate character?

Not in “Hindi characters”, where मा is one character. It does count separately in “Unicode code points” and in the Matras total.

How are conjunct letters like क्ष counted?

As one character as read, and as three code points (क ् ष). The Conjuncts total counts each halant that joins two consonants.

Does it count Devanagari digits?

Yes. Digits ० to ९ are counted separately.

Sources and references

  1. Devanagari Unicode chart (U+0900–U+097F), Unicode Consortium
  2. Unicode Text Segmentation (UAX #29), Unicode Consortium