Remove Numbers from Text: Cleaning Subtitles, Contents Pages, and Exports
Paste text with numbering, timecodes, or prices and every ASCII digit disappears while everything else stays put. Check the spacing afterwards, collapse the double spaces, and the text is ready for layout.
When you want the numbers gone
Subtitle files carry timecodes and index numbers, and a plain-text script needs them stripped first. A table of contents copied out of a PDF arrives with page numbers attached. A price export mixes numbers and units, and keeping only product names means removing the digits first.
The other case is data cleaning: an address column has house numbers and phone numbers mixed in, and you need them out before comparing; or a numbered list has to become plain names for a system that only accepts text. Hand-deleting misses things, especially when digits sit between Chinese characters.
- Subtitles and scripts without timecodes or indices
- Tables of contents stripped to plain headings
- First-pass cleaning of address and name lists
How to remove numbers without surprises
Only ASCII digits 0-9 are matched, and a run of digits is removed as a block. The spaces and punctuation around the digits are not part of them, so they stay, which turns Total 3 items into Total with a double space where the number was. Plan a whitespace cleanup step after this.
Full-width digits such as １２３ are a different character and survive. To clear those too, convert full-width to half-width first and then remove numbers. And remember that digits in phone numbers and order IDs are gone for good, so keep the original before you run this.
- Expect double spaces and clean them afterwards
- Full-width digits are outside the scope
- Phone and order numbers cannot be recovered
Where it stops, and what to use instead
It cannot tell a number that should go from a value that should stay. Prices, tax rates, and specification figures disappear along with the numbering, so it is the wrong tool for a table whose numbers matter. Removing by position needs a regex instead.
It also cannot remove only leading list numbers, only digits inside brackets, or preserve decimal points and minus signs. Those need a regex-capable editor, for example replacing a line-leading number and dot with nothing. A browser tool is fine for a one-off rough clean, not for a repeatable pipeline.
- No distinction between numbering and data
- Prices and specifications are deleted too
- Position-based removal needs regex
FAQ
Why are there two spaces left where a number was?
The digits are gone but the spaces on either side are not part of the number, so Total: 3 items becomes Total: items. Run the result through a whitespace-collapsing step, or replace double spaces by hand, if you want it clean.
Will full-width digits like １２３ be removed?
No. Only ASCII 0-9 is matched, so full-width digits typed with a Chinese or Japanese IME survive. Convert full-width to half-width first if you want those gone too, then run the removal again.
Can it remove only the numbering at the start of each line?
No. The tool removes any digit it sees, regardless of position. Stripping leading list numbers needs a regex replace in an editor, or moving the numbers into their own column before processing.
Related tool：Remove Numbers