Strikethrough Text Generator
Type your text and get it back crossed out — l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ — with either a straight line or a wavy tilde through every character. The strike is built from Unicode combining marks, so it travels with the text when you paste it into a bio, a comment or a chat that has no strikethrough button. Free, no sign-up.
Strikethrough (long stroke)
Your result will appear here
Tilde strikethrough (wavy)
Your result will appear here
How to Use the Strikethrough Text Generator
- Type or paste your text. Two crossed-out versions appear as you type.
- Pick the line. The long stroke draws a straight line through the middle of each character; the tilde draws a wavy one.
- Copy it. Press Copy on the version you want and paste it into your bio, post, comment or message.
- Check it where it will be read. Combining marks are drawn by the font, so look at the result on the platform you are posting to.
How the Strike Is Made
The tool does not apply formatting. It appends a combining character — a mark that Unicode draws on top of the character before it — after every character you type. Both marks are in the Combining Diacritical Marks block (U+0300–U+036F) and have been there since Unicode 1.1:
| Version | Mark | Sample |
|---|---|---|
| Strikethrough (long stroke) | U+0336 COMBINING LONG STROKE OVERLAY | T̶u̶e̶s̶d̶a̶y̶ |
| Tilde strikethrough | U+0334 COMBINING TILDE OVERLAY | T̴u̴e̴s̴d̴a̴y̴ |
Every character gets a mark, including spaces, so the line runs unbroken across a phrase: "Was $20 now $15" becomes W̶a̶s̶ ̶$̶2̶0̶ ̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶$̶1̶5̶. That is 15 visible characters but 30 code points and 45 bytes in UTF-8, because each mark is a character of its own. Platforms that count code points toward a character limit will count the marks too, so crossed-out text uses up a limit about twice as fast.
Real Strikethrough Is Usually Better
Many places that lack a strikethrough button still understand a few typed symbols. Discord and Reddit cross out text wrapped in double tildes (~~like this~~); WhatsApp and Slack use single tildes (~like this~). These are real formatting: the text remains normal text that can be searched, read aloud and copied cleanly. In a document, use the editor's strikethrough, and in HTML the <s> or <del> element. Use the Unicode version for the places that offer none of these — most Instagram bios, display names and captions among them.
Which Tool Do You Need?
| You want | Use |
|---|---|
| A line through the middle of the text | This page |
| A line under the text | Underline Text Generator |
| Letters piled with marks above and below, creepy-style | Glitch Text Generator |
| Heavy or slanted letters | Bold Text Generator |
What Can Go Wrong
- Uneven or offset strokes. Fonts position overlay marks slightly differently, so the line can sit high or low, or appear as a separate mark after the letter in an older font.
- Breaking it up. If you edit crossed-out text, delete the mark with the character; a stray mark left behind attaches to the next character.
- Search and spell check. A crossed-out word is not recognised as the plain word, so it will not match a search and will be flagged by a spell checker.
- Taking it off. To remove the effect, replace U+0336 (or U+0334) with nothing in an editor that supports find and replace with escape codes, or paste into the Unicode Character Inspector to see what is in the text.
A note on accessibility
A screen reader is not told the text is crossed out. Depending on the software it may announce every mark ("combining long stroke overlay"), spell the words, or ignore the marks and read the plain letters — in which case the reader hears the crossed-out words as if they still counted. Do not use it for corrections, prices or anything where the strike changes the meaning; say "was" and "now" in words instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I strike through text in an Instagram bio or caption?
- Instagram has no strikethrough option there, so type your text above, copy the crossed-out version and paste it in. The line is made of combining characters, which is why it survives the paste.
- How does Unicode strikethrough work?
- After each character the tool adds a combining mark — U+0336, the long stroke overlay, or U+0334, the tilde overlay. A combining mark has no width of its own and is drawn over the character before it, so the result looks crossed out.
- What is the difference between the line and tilde versions?
- The line version uses a straight stroke; the tilde version uses a wavy one. They carry the same meaning and are the same length. Which looks better depends on the font, so compare them where you will post.
- Why does my strikethrough look broken?
- The font controls how overlay marks are drawn. Some older fonts and apps place the stroke off the letter or show it as a separate mark, and nothing in the text can change that. Try the other version or use real formatting.
- How do I cross out text in Discord, WhatsApp or Word?
- In Discord and Reddit put two tildes on each side (
~~text~~); in WhatsApp and Slack use one (~text~). In Word and Google Docs use the Font options or the Format menu. Those methods keep the text as ordinary text. - Is crossed-out Unicode text accessible?
- Not reliably. Screen readers do not announce that the text is struck through and may read out the combining marks or the plain letters. Avoid it for corrections or any content whose meaning depends on the strike.