Line Counter: Count Lines in Text and Code Instantly
Counts
FREE TOOL · NO SIGN-UP
This line counter shows how many lines are in any text or code you paste, split into total, non-empty, empty and unique lines, along with the longest and average line length. It is for writers, developers, data analysts and SEOs who need an exact count for lists, files, scripts or keyword exports. Paste your text and the counts appear instantly, with nothing to click.
It runs in your browser, so the text never leaves your device. Windows and Unix line endings are both handled, so counts stay accurate whatever system the text came from.
What the Line Counter Counts
A line is any run of text that ends with a line break, or the final run of text after the last break.
Total, blank and non-empty lines
Total lines counts every line, including empty ones. Non-empty lines counts lines that contain at least one visible character. Empty lines counts the rest, including lines that hold only spaces or tabs, since those look blank on screen. Unique lines counts distinct non-empty lines after trimming spaces at each end, so it tells you how many duplicates a list contains: if you have 500 non-empty lines and 430 unique ones, 70 are repeats. Longest line shows the character length of the longest line, and average line length shows the mean across non-empty lines.
Wrapped vs real lines
What you see in an editor is not always what the counter counts. A long paragraph can wrap across five lines on screen but is one line in the text, because it contains no line break. The counter only counts real line breaks, which is what matters for files, code, CSV rows and most systems that read text. If your count is lower than expected, you are probably seeing soft wraps.
How to Count Lines
The tool has one box and live results, so counting takes seconds.
Step 1: Paste or type text
Paste your text into the box, or type directly. You can paste anything: a keyword list, a CSV export, source code, a log file, lyrics or a script. For a file, open it in a text editor, select all and copy. Clear empties the box when you want to start again.
Step 2: Read the counts
The counts update as you type or paste. Total lines is highlighted as the main figure, with non-empty, empty and unique lines beside it, followed by the longest and average line length in characters. Compare total and non-empty lines to see how much spacing the text contains.
Step 3: Clean blank lines if needed
If the empty line count is higher than you want, remove blank lines in your editor or with a find and replace using a regular expression such as ^\s*$. The Find and Replace Text tool helps with this. If unique lines is lower than non-empty lines, use the Duplicate Line Remover to drop repeats, then paste the result back to recount.
Step 4: Record the results
Note the counts you need, or select the results area and copy it into your notes, ticket or spreadsheet. For documentation or code reviews, pair the count with numbered lines from the Line Numbering Tool so others can reference specific lines.
Counting Lines of Code
Developers count lines to estimate project size, track changes and set review limits.
Physical vs logical LOC
Physical lines of code are the actual lines in a file, which is what this tool counts. Logical lines of code count statements, so if (a) { b(); } on one line might count as two logical lines, while a long function call spread over five lines might count as one. Physical counts are simple and consistent. Logical counts depend on the language and the counting tool. For most quick checks, such as how big a file is or how many lines a change adds, physical lines are what people mean.
Excluding comments
Code metrics often exclude blank lines and comments to measure real code. The non-empty count already removes blank lines. To remove comments too, strip them first: many minifiers and editor commands can remove comments, or you can use a regular expression for single-line comments in your language. Dedicated tools like cloc report code, comment and blank lines separately for whole repositories.
Line Breaks Across Systems
Different operating systems mark the end of a line in different ways, which can confuse some tools.
LF vs CRLF
Unix, Linux and macOS use a single line feed character (LF, \n). Windows uses a carriage return followed by a line feed (CRLF, \r\n). Old Mac systems used a carriage return alone. Tools that only look for one style can count lines wrongly or show stray characters. This counter treats both LF and CRLF as one line break, so a file from Windows and the same file from Linux give the same count.
Trailing newline differences
Many editors and Unix tools end files with a newline. Command-line tools like wc -l count newline characters, so a file without a final newline shows one line fewer. This tool counts the text after the last break as a line too, and a final break creates one empty line at the end. Check the empty line count if two tools disagree by one.
Practical Uses for Line Counts
Line counts come up in more places than you might expect.
Lists, keywords and CSV rows
Count keywords before importing them into a tool with limits, check that an export has the expected number of rows, or confirm a URL list for a sitemap or disavow file is complete. For CSVs, remember the header row counts as a line.
Poetry, lyrics and scripts
Poets count lines for forms like sonnets, songwriters check verse lengths, and screenwriters estimate length. Use the Word Counter when you need words instead of lines.
Line Counting Pitfalls
Three things cause most surprising results.
Soft wraps
Wrapped text looks like several lines but counts as one. Turn off word wrap in your editor to see real lines.
Hidden whitespace lines
Lines with only spaces count as empty here, but some tools count them as content. Clean them before comparing counts.
Header rows in data
A CSV with 1,000 records has 1,001 lines once you include the header. Subtract it for a record count.
Get an Exact Count in One Paste
Paste your text above to get total, empty, non-empty and unique line counts. For other measurements, use the Character Counter, the Paragraph Counter or the Word Counter, and number your lines with the Line Numbering Tool. Find every free text tool on FHSEO Hub.