cli-truncate vs string-width

Side-by-side — pricing, strengths, tradeoffs, and fit.

cli-truncate

Truncate strings to fit terminal width.

string-width

Get the visual width of strings for precise text layout.

At a glance

Open SourceFree Tier
● Established·From $0
Open SourceFree Tier
● Established·From $0

Overview

One-liner

Truncate strings to fit terminal width.

One-liner

Get the visual width of strings for precise text layout.

Maturity

Established

Maturity

Established

Open source

✓ Yes

Open source

✓ Yes

Pricing

Free tier

✓ Available

Open source — free to use

Free tier

✓ Available

Open source — free to use

Starts at

$0

Starts at

$0

Model

Flat rate

Model

Flat rate

Enterprise

✕ None

Enterprise

✕ None

Best for

✓ Best for

Developers working on CLI applications who need to ensure text does not overflow beyond the terminal width.
Projects where console output needs to be formatted precisely for readability and aesthetics.

✓ Best for

Developers working on CLI tools who need precise text alignment and formatting.
Projects requiring accurate width calculation for internationalized strings.
Applications that display formatted text in a terminal or console environment.

Not ideal for

✕ Not for

Applications that do not require precise control over text formatting in a terminal environment.
Scenarios where the focus is on graphical user interfaces rather than command-line interfaces.

✕ Not for

Real-time text processing applications where performance is critical.
Large-scale data processing tasks where the overhead of string manipulation could be significant.

Strengths

↑ Strengths

Truncates strings to fit within a specified width.
Handles multi-byte characters correctly.
Easy to integrate into existing projects.

↑ Strengths

Supports Unicode characters for accurate width calculation.
Lightweight and easy to integrate into projects.
No external dependencies, making it simple to use.

Weaknesses

↓ Weaknesses

Limited functionality for complex text formatting
Does not handle dynamic terminal resizing well
Lacks comprehensive documentation and examples

↓ Weaknesses

Limited functionality for complex text formatting
No built-in support for right-to-left languages
Does not account for font metrics or rendering differences
Does not handle combining characters well
Full cli-truncate profile →Full string-width profile →
cli-truncate vs string-width | AI Navigator