Count a post the way X does — URLs count as 23 characters and wide characters count double — with live used and remaining totals out of 280.
X does not count every character equally. Every URL is counted as 23 characters regardless of its real length, and characters from wide scripts such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean, plus most emoji, count as 2. This counter applies the same weighting: it finds URLs first, counts each as 23, then weighs the remaining characters individually. The result is the count that determines whether a draft fits the standard 280-character limit for regular posts.
Why does a long link only add 23 characters? X shortens every link through its own wrapper and charges a fixed 23 characters for it in the count, whether the original URL is shorter or much longer.
Which characters count as double? Characters in wide ranges — mainly CJK characters and many emoji and symbols — count as 2. Standard Latin letters, digits and punctuation count as 1.
Does this match the count in the X app exactly? It follows the published weighting rules and matches in typical cases. Edge cases involving unusual symbols or zero-width characters can differ slightly, so leave a small margin for critical posts.