Does this add an ellipsis or other suffix to truncated text?

No. Unlike some general-purpose text truncators that append '...' to signal that text was cut, this tool returns exactly the first N characters with nothing appended, and separately reports the count of characters removed. That keeps the output strictly ASCII with no risk of a non-ASCII ellipsis character sneaking in, and keeps the output length exactly predictable.

How is this different from the string category's String Truncator?

String Truncator accepts any Unicode text and can append a suffix like '...' to the cut result. This tool first strictly validates that every character is 7-bit ASCII (0-127), rejecting anything outside that range with a precise error, and never appends a suffix, it just returns the raw first N characters plus a count of how many were dropped.

What happens if N is larger than the input length?

The input is returned unchanged, and the removed-character count is reported as 0. Truncation only ever shortens text; it never pads or extends it to reach the requested length.

What counts as one 'character' when counting toward N?

Each 7-bit ASCII code point, exactly one per character, since strict ASCII guarantees a 1:1 relationship between characters and code points (unlike general Unicode, where some visible characters are actually built from multiple code points).

ASCII Truncator - Cut Strict-ASCII Text to N Characters

Overview

Introduction

Sometimes you need a hard length cap on text, a fixed-width field, a legacy protocol's byte budget, a display limit, and you need to know exactly how many characters got cut to fit.

This tool applies that cap to strictly-validated ASCII text, returning both the truncated result and a precise count of what was removed, with no extra characters like an ellipsis appended.

What Is ASCII Truncator?

A length-limiting tool for 7-bit ASCII text: given a maximum character count N, it returns the first N characters of your input and reports how many trailing characters were cut.

It strictly validates ASCII first, since fixed-width ASCII fields (the classic use case for a hard truncation limit) have no defined behavior for characters outside 0-127.

How ASCII Truncator Works

The input is checked against the shared strict-ASCII validator, rejecting immediately if any character falls outside 0-127.

If the character count is already within the limit, the input is returned unchanged with a removed count of 0. Otherwise, the first N characters are kept, the rest are dropped, and the exact number dropped is reported alongside the result.

When To Use ASCII Truncator

Use it when you need to enforce a strict maximum length on ASCII data, for example, a fixed-width legacy field, a serial protocol's field size, or a hard cap for test fixtures.

It's also useful whenever you specifically don't want a truncation suffix (like '...') added, and just want the raw cut text plus a count.

Often used alongside String Truncator, List Truncator and Hex Value Truncator.

Features

Advantages

Reports an exact removed-character count, not just the cut text, so you know precisely how much was lost.
Never appends any suffix, keeping the output strictly the requested number of original ASCII characters.
Rejects non-ASCII input outright rather than truncating it incorrectly or silently mangling it.

Limitations

Doesn't support any 'truncate from the end' or 'truncate the middle' mode, only from the start; use ASCII Slicer for other truncation shapes.
Doesn't add any visual indicator (like an ellipsis) that truncation occurred, you have to check the removed-character count separately.

Examples

Truncating to a shorter length

Input

Hello, World!

Output

Hello

The first 5 characters are kept; the remaining 8 characters ('", World!') are removed.

No truncation needed

Input

Hi

Output

Hi

Since 'Hi' has only 2 characters and the limit is higher, the input is returned unchanged with 0 characters removed.

Best Practices & Notes

Best Practices

Check the reported removed-character count in your workflow before assuming truncation had no effect.
Pick your max length based on the target format's actual limit (for example, a fixed-width field's byte budget) rather than an arbitrary round number.

Developer Notes

Splits the validated input with `Array.from()`-based code-point iteration (via the shared `validateStrictAscii` helper) rather than raw string slicing, so the character count used for the limit matches the same definition of 'character' the rest of the ascii category uses.

ASCII Truncator Use Cases

Enforcing a fixed-width ASCII field's length limit before writing to a legacy format
Building test fixtures that are exactly N characters long
Trimming ASCII log lines or identifiers to a maximum display length without adding a suffix

Common Mistakes

Expecting an ellipsis or other truncation indicator in the output; this tool intentionally omits one.
Assuming the removed count includes any suffix characters, it only counts the original characters that were cut.

Tips

Pair with ASCII Slicer if you need to keep a middle or trailing portion of text instead of just the start.
Use the removed-character count to decide whether you need to warn a user that their input was shortened.

ASCII Truncator