--- title: "Add Line Numbers to Text Online" description: "Add line numbers to text online with custom starts, increments, styles and zero-padding. Blank lines stay intact, and your text stays private." url: https://candoya.com/tools/add-line-numbers/ locale: en type: browser-tool --- # Add Line Numbers to Text Category: [Text & Writing](https://candoya.com/tools/text/) ## How do I add line numbers to text? Paste your text and this line numbering tool places a sequential number before each line instantly. Choose the starting number, increment and marker style, then copy the result. You can align numbers with leading zeros and preserve blank lines without counting them, all inside your browser. Line numbers turn a plain block into text people can reference precisely. They help reviewers point to one sentence in a transcript, one instruction in a checklist or one row in a copied data set. The live preview makes every formatting choice visible before you copy. The tool preserves your original line breaks, including Windows and Unix endings. Enable **Skip blank lines** to keep paragraph spacing while continuing the sequence only across lines that contain text. ## How to use it 1. **Paste the lines** - Enter or paste the multiline text you want to number, or load the example to try the controls. 2. **Choose the sequence** - Set the starting value and increment, then pick a period, parenthesis, brackets, colon or tab style. 3. **Handle spacing** - Keep blank lines unnumbered for paragraphs, and turn on zero-padding when aligned digits matter. 4. **Copy the result** - Review the live output and copy the numbered text back into your document, message or editor. ## Who it's for - **Developers and reviewers** labeling code snippets, logs and configuration samples for precise feedback. - **Writers and editors** numbering scripts, lyrics, transcripts or interview notes for discussion. - **Teachers and students** preparing passages, questions and reading exercises with easy references. - **Operations teams** turning copied rows, agenda items and requirements into an ordered list. ## Expert note Apply line numbers after the text is stable: inserting or deleting a line changes every later reference. For columns that must align in plain text, zero-padding keeps 01, 02 and 10 the same width. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is my text uploaded anywhere? No. Numbering runs locally with JavaScript in your browser. The text you paste is not sent to a server, so drafts, transcripts, logs and internal notes remain on your device while you work. ### Is the add line numbers tool free? Yes. It is free to use with no sign-up, download or fixed usage limit. Paste your text, adjust the numbering options and copy the result as often as you need. ### How much text can I number at once? There is no fixed line or character limit. The work happens locally and normal documents update instantly. Extremely large text is limited only by your browser memory and by what is practical to review in a text area. ### Can I start line numbering at 0 or another number? Yes. Enter any safe whole number in Start at, including 0 or a negative value. You can also change Increment to count by 2, 5 or another non-zero whole number, including a negative step for descending sequences. ### Can I skip blank lines without deleting them? Yes. Keep Skip blank lines enabled. Empty and whitespace-only lines remain in the output as visual gaps, but they receive no marker and do not advance the sequence. Turn the option off when every physical line should be numbered. ### What does Pad with zeros do? It adds leading zeros so every numeric part has the same digit width. A sequence that reaches 12 starts as 01, 02 and 03. Negative values keep the minus sign before the padded digits, such as -03. ### Does the tool preserve Windows line endings? Yes. Carriage return plus line feed, Unix line feed, old-style carriage returns and Unicode line separators stay unchanged. Only the numeric marker is inserted at the start of each selected line. ### Does line numbering work with non-English text? Yes. The tool operates on line boundaries rather than words or grammar. It can number text written in any script, along with emoji, punctuation and mixed-language content, without changing the characters inside each line. ## Related tools - [Line Counter](https://candoya.com/tools/line-counter/) - [Remove Line Breaks](https://candoya.com/tools/remove-line-breaks/) - [Sort Lines Alphabetically](https://candoya.com/tools/sort-lines-alphabetically/) - [Remove Duplicate Lines](https://candoya.com/tools/remove-duplicate-lines/) - [Text Diff Checker](https://candoya.com/tools/text-diff/) --- *Markdown edition of , published for AI agents and other automated readers. Index of key pages: .*