Shorten/truncate UTF8 string in PHP - php

Question

I need a good fast function that shortens strings to a set length with UTF8 support. Adding trailing '...' at ends is a plus. Can anyone help?

Answer 1

Assuming mb_* functions installed.
function truncate($str, $length, $append = '…') {
$strLength = mb_strlen($str);
if ($strLength <= $length) {
return $str;
}
return mb_substr($str, 0, $length) . $append;
}
CodePad.
Keep in mind this will add one character (the elipsis). If you want the $append included in the length that is truncated, just minus the mb_strlen($append) from the length of the string you chop.
Obviously, this will also chop in the middle of words.
Update
Here is a version that can optionally preserve whole words...
function truncate($str, $length, $breakWords = TRUE, $append = '…') {
$strLength = mb_strlen($str);
if ($strLength <= $length) {
return $str;
}
if ( ! $breakWords) {
while ($length < $strLength AND preg_match('/^\pL$/', mb_substr($str, $length, 1))) {
$length++;
}
}
return mb_substr($str, 0, $length) . $append;
}
CodePad.
It will preserve all letter characters up to the first non letter character if the third argument is TRUE.

Answer 2

I guess you need to truncate text, so this may be helpful:
if (!function_exists('truncate_string')) {
function truncate_string($string, $max_length) {
if (mb_strlen($string, 'UTF-8') > $max_length){
$string = mb_substr($string, 0, $max_length, 'UTF-8');
$pos = mb_strrpos($string, ' ', false, 'UTF-8');
if($pos === false) {
return mb_substr($string, 0, $max_length, 'UTF-8').'…';
}
return mb_substr($string, 0, $pos, 'UTF-8').'…';
}else{
return $string;
}
}
}
This is something like #alex just posted, but it does not break words.

Answer 3

Try this:
$length = 100;
if(mb_strlen($text, "utf-8") > $length){
$last_space = mb_strrpos(mb_substr($text, 0, $length, "utf-8"), " ", "utf-8");
$text = mb_substr($text, 0, $last_space, "utf-8")." ...";}
Cheers...