This removes markup from a block of text and leaves the readable content behind. Copy anything out of a web page, a forum post or a CMS field and the markup usually comes along with it.
What gets removed
Anything between angle brackets in HTML, and the square-bracket equivalents in BBCode. The text between the tags stays.
Why the markup is a problem
Any counting or analysis performed over tagged text is measuring the tags too. Word counts inflate, frequency counts fill up with element names, and readability scores become meaningless.
The usual first step
Strip tags before counting words, measuring length, checking readability, or pasting content into an editor that would otherwise render or escape the markup.
Try it: Remove HTML / BBCode Tags on SeoWolf's Notepad.