SO - 15291138

by Arun P Johny

HTML

<div>
    <textarea maxlength=5 class="textarea-char-count"></textarea>
</div>
<span></span>

JavaScript

$('body').on("keydown", '.textarea-char-count', function(event) {
    textareaCounter(this, event);
}); 

textareaCounter = function(element, evt) {

    //Get char limit
    var limit = $(element).attr("maxlength");

    // get current character count
    var current = $(element).val().length;
    console.log('c', current, $(element).val())

    // if current character count is greater than or equal to the character limit
    if(current >= limit) {
        // prevent further characters from being entered apart from the 
        // Delete and Backspace keys
        if(evt.which != 0 && evt.which != 8)
        {
            if (evt.preventDefault) {
                evt.preventDefault();
            }
            else {
                evt.returnValue = false;
            }
        }
    }
    $(element).parent().next().show().text( current + " / " +  limit);

}