# Plain Text Converter

> Strip all Unicode styling and special characters to return text to its pure ASCII form.

**Category:** Text
**Keywords:** plain text, ascii, clean, strip, normalize, converter
**URL:** https://complete.tools/plain-text-converter

## How it calculates

The Plain Text Converter operates through a simple algorithm that identifies and removes formatting characters from the input text. The conversion process does not involve complex calculations or formulas; however, it can be described in terms of character manipulation. The core operation can be represented as: 

OutputText = InputText - FormattingCharacters 

Where: 
- OutputText is the resulting plain text after conversion. 
- InputText is the original text that may include formatting. 
- FormattingCharacters include any non-standard characters, such as HTML tags, markdown symbols, or rich text features. The tool scans the InputText, identifies all FormattingCharacters, and removes them. This results in a clean string of characters that represents the original content without any formatting, allowing for easier integration into systems that only support plain text.

## Who should use this

1. Software developers working with APIs that require plain text input for data submissions.
2. Journalists preparing articles for publication in platforms that only accept unformatted text.
3. Academic researchers compiling data for analysis in software that does not support rich text formatting.
4. Data entry specialists needing to input information into legacy systems that do not recognize formatting.

## Worked examples

Example 1: A software developer needs to convert the following formatted HTML text: "<h1>Hello, World!</h1>". The Plain Text Converter removes the HTML tags, resulting in: "Hello, World!". This plain text can then be used in programming without syntax errors.

Example 2: A journalist has written an article in a word processor with various styles. The text "This is <b>important</b> news!" is input into the converter. The output will be: "This is important news!". This enables the journalist to submit the article to a publication that requires plain text.

Example 3: An academic researcher has copied a formatted table that appears as "| Name | Age |\n| ---- | --- |\n| John | 30 |". The converter yields: "Name Age John 30". The researcher can now analyze the data without formatting interference.

## Limitations

1. The tool may not handle certain encoding formats correctly, leading to potential loss of characters in special languages. 
2. Edge cases such as text with embedded scripts may not be entirely stripped of unwanted elements, resulting in incomplete conversions. 
3. The conversion process assumes that the input text is valid; malformed input may yield unpredictable results. 
4. The tool does not support bulk processing of multiple documents simultaneously, limiting its use for large-scale text conversions. 
5. The Plain Text Converter does not preserve line breaks or paragraph structures, which may be necessary in certain applications.

## FAQs

**Q:** How does the tool handle special characters like emojis or symbols?


**A:** The tool removes or replaces special characters during the conversion process, depending on their compatibility with plain text formats.


**Q:** Can the converter process rich text formats like RTF or DOCX?


**A:** The tool primarily processes text inputs; rich text formats must be converted to a supported format (like plain text) before inputting.


**Q:** What happens if the input text contains embedded code?


**A:** The converter attempts to remove formatting but may leave behind some code elements, which could affect output integrity.


**Q:** Is there a limit to the length of text that can be converted?


**A:** While there is no strict character limit, very large texts may experience performance issues or timeouts during processing.

---

*Generated from [complete.tools/plain-text-converter](https://complete.tools/plain-text-converter)*