What it does
The counter applies the weighting from X's open-source counting library, twitter-text (configuration version 3). Text is normalized first; characters in the ranges U+0000 to U+10FF, U+2000 to U+200D, U+2010 to U+201F and U+2032 to U+2037 count as one; all other characters count as two; each emoji sequence counts as two; and each link counts as 23. A standard post can be up to 280 under these rules.
What do the numbers mean?
X count is what X will charge you; characters is the raw number of code points; counted double is how many of them weigh two.
The highlighted copy under the buttons marks every character that counts double in yellow and every link in teal, which is usually the fastest way to see why a post won't fit. "Trim to 280" cuts from the end but never splits an emoji or a letter with its accent. "Convert fancy letters to plain" swaps styled letters back to ordinary ones, which often halves the cost of a post.
Which characters count as two?
| Counts as 1 | Counts as 2 |
|---|---|
| Latin letters, digits, basic punctuation | Chinese, Japanese, Korean characters |
| Accented letters (Γ©, Γ±, Ε, ΓΈ) | Emoji (any sequence, even π¨βπ©βπ§βπ¦) |
| Greek, Cyrillic, Hebrew, Arabic, Thai, Georgian | Mathematical bold, italic, script letters |
| IPA letters (most upside-down text) | Bubble and squared letters |
| En dash, em dash, curly quotes | Ellipsis character (β¦), bullets (β’), most symbols |
| Combining accents (each one) | Full-width letters |
One surprise: the ellipsis character β¦ counts as two, while three full stops count as three. Curly quotes and dashes count as one because they sit in the U+2010 to U+201F range that X treats as light.
Questions people ask
Why does my post show fewer characters left on X than in my notes app?
Your notes app counts every character as one. X counts characters outside the light ranges as two, which includes Chinese, Japanese and Korean, many symbols, fancy Unicode letters and some punctuation such as the ellipsis character (β¦). Emoji count as two as well.
Do links really count as 23 no matter how long they are?
Yes. X shortens every link with its t.co service and counts it as 23 characters, whether it's a short domain or a long URL with tracking parameters. Bare domains such as example.com are linked and counted the same way.
What about longer posts?
X Premium subscribers can write longer posts. X's help center lists the limit as up to 25,000 characters. This counter is set to the standard 280.
Do @mentions at the start of a reply count?
X doesn't count the handles it adds automatically at the start of a reply. Mentions you type into the text yourself do count. This counter counts everything in the box, so leave out the leading handles if you're drafting a reply.