Tools84

TEXT FORMATTING / A PRACTICAL GUIDE

How tocenter plain text at a chosen width

Center short lines within a character width.

Add padding on both sides of each line so shorter text occupies a chosen width in plain text.

Follow the guide
A real before-and-after example
Before Input for center text

The original source text.

After Actual output for center text

The downloaded text result.

The comparison uses the original input and the actual downloaded result.
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QUICK VIDEO TUTORIAL Center lines with padding Center lines with padding English narration Watch the video

Center lines with padding

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Add padding on both sides of each line so shorter text occupies a chosen width in plain text. Follow the exact input and settings below to reproduce this example. Open Center Text.

01

Prepare the source text

Open Center Text and choose Write or paste text, or upload a supported UTF-8 text file. The upload opens the editor; it does not run the tool. This example uses the exact source shown in the comparison.

Maximum input and result: 1 MB of UTF-8 text, with a 1,048,576-character input ceiling. Expanding transformations must also fit the result limit.

Use the exact example input
Heading
Note

This text operation runs in your browser; its source and result are not sent for conversion. A draft may be kept in this browser tab when session storage is available. Clear removes the current draft; download important work before closing the tab.

02

Choose the settings

For the recorded example, use these settings: Target line width: 12; Padding characters: One space.

Each line is measured separately. The missing width is divided between left and right padding; if an extra character is needed, it goes on the right. Multiple padding characters cycle in their entered order. Lines that already meet or exceed the target width are not shortened.

Target line width
12
Padding characters
One space

The example in this guide

Verified in the i2TEXT browser workflow on November 11, 2026.

Input
example.txt
Output
center-text.txt
Saved result
25 bytes
03

Apply and inspect the result

Select Center Text when the input and settings are ready. In the saved example, the result begins: "Heading ".

Plain-text alignment is most predictable in a monospaced font. Character counts do not guarantee equal visual widths for every language or font.

Result overview compares Target line width with the Longest line in the result and shows the input-to-result character totals. A longer source line can exceed the target because centering does not shorten it.

Result overview distinguishes changed, unchanged and empty results. An unchanged result means the selected operation did not alter the text; an empty result can be the expected outcome of removal or extraction. Open Show spaces and tabs to reveal spaces as ·, tabs as ⇥ and line endings as ↵. These marks are only a preview; copied and downloaded text keeps its actual whitespace. The whitespace preview shows at most 12,000 Unicode code points. This preview limit does not shorten the editable result or its TXT download.

04

Save the version you reviewed

Review the current result, then use the download icon to save a TXT file. The actual download in this example is named center-text.txt. Copy and download use the current result, so make any final wording changes before saving. Continue to can carry the result into a compatible next tool, where you review it before running another operation.

Editing the result hides the calculated details until you run the tool again. Copy and TXT download use the edited text; return to the source and reapply the tool to refresh the report.

The reviewed copy is ready

example.txtcenter-text.txt

A FEW USEFUL DETAILS

Common questions

Which settings produced this example?

Target line width: 12; Padding characters: One space.

What should I check before using the result?

Plain-text alignment is most predictable in a monospaced font. Character counts do not guarantee equal visual widths for every language or font.

Where is this text processed?

This text operation runs in your browser; its source and result are not sent for conversion. A draft may be kept in this browser tab when session storage is available. Clear removes the current draft; download important work before closing the tab.

YOUR TURN

Try Center Text with your own text.

Use your own source and review the result before sharing.

Open Center Text

Image detail

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