Create Word Counter App using Django (original) (raw)

Last Updated : 8 Apr, 2026

Our task is to build a simple Django application that counts the number of words in a given text. This is a great beginner project if you have some basic knowledge of Django.

Refer to the below article to know about basics of Django.

Django Basics

How to Create a Basic Project using MVT in Django ?

Step 1: Create the Word Counting Logic in Views

First, we create a function called **counter in **views.py which will handle the logic for counting words:

Python `

from django.shortcuts import render

def counter(request): if request.method == 'POST':

    text = request.POST['texttocount']

    if text != '':
        word = len(text.split())
        i = True
        return render(request, 'counter.html',
                      {'word': word,
                      'text': text,
                      'i': i, 
                      'on': 'active'
        })

    else:
        return render(request, 'counter.html', {'on': 'active'})
else:
    return render(request, 'counter.html', {'on': 'active'})

**Explanation:

When the user submits text via POST, we check if the input is not empty.
We then split the text by spaces and count the resulting words.
If successful, we pass the word count and original text back to the template.
On GET requests or empty input, we simply render the form without results.

Step 2: Configure URL Patterns

In your app's **urls.py, map the URL ****/counter** to your **counter view:

Python `

from django.urls import path from . import views from django.conf import settings from django.conf.urls.static import static

urlpatterns = [ path('counter',views.counter, name='counter'), ]

Then include your app URLs in the main project **urls.py:

Python `

from django.contrib import admin from django.urls import path, include from django.views.generic import RedirectView

urlpatterns = [ path('admin/', admin.site.urls), path('', RedirectView.as_view(url='counter', permanent=False)), # Redirect root to /counter path('myapp/', include('yourappname.urls')), # Replace yourappname with your actual app name ]

Step 3: Create the HTML Template

Create a file called **counter.html inside your app’s templates folder and add the following code:

HTML `

{% if i %}

{{ word }} Word{{ word|pluralize }} in the text

{% endif %}

{% csrf_token %}

Paste your text here

<div class="text-center">
  <!-- Ads or other content can go here -->
</div>

<div class="form-group text-center">
  <button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary w-25">Run Counter</button>
</div>

**Notes:

The ****{% csrf_token %}** tag is essential for POST requests to pass Django’s CSRF protection.
We conditionally display the word count only when the counting process has succeeded (i is true).
****{{ word|pluralize }}** adds an “s” when the word count is more than one for proper grammar.

Step 4: Run Your Application

Make sure your Django server is running:

python manage.py runserver

**Output:

TemplateDoesNotExist at /counter