The phrase "how many characters" consists of 14 characters including the spaces. If the question is about counting the number of characters in general texts or specific contexts, character counting typically refers to counting all letters, numbers, punctuation marks, spaces, and other symbols in the text. Online tools can help count characters exactly, including or excluding spaces. Character counts matter for various applications such as social media posts (e.g., Twitter allows 280 characters), text message limits, SEO titles, and other content length requirements.