optimizing a php function that trims strings - php

Question

i programmed this php function that takes any text/html string and trims it.
For example:
gen_string("Hello, how are you today?",10);
Returns:
Hello, how...
The problem arises when the function string limit is the same as the position of a special character such as: á, ñ, etc...
In which case:
gen_string("Helló my friend",5);
Returns: Hell�...
Any ideas on how to solve this issue? This is the current function:
# string: advanced substr
function gen_string($string,$min,$clean=false) {
$text = trim(strip_tags($string));
if(strlen($text)>$min) {
$blank = strpos($text,' ');
if($blank) {
# limit plus last word
$extra = strpos(substr($text,$min),' ');
$max = $min+$extra;
$r = substr($text,0,$max);
if(strlen($text)>=$max && !$clean) $r=trim($r,'.').'...';
} else {
# if there are no spaces
$r = substr($text,0,$min).'...';
}
} else {
# if original length is lower than limit
$r = $text;
}
return trim($r);
}
Thanks!

Answer 1

You should use the multibyte string functions to correctly handle unicode characters.
For example you could try using mb_strimwidth to truncate a string to a specified length.

Answer 2

You could also take a different approach and make use of the PCRE regex extension's UTF-8 capabilities (assuming your strings are UTF-8!).
function gen_string($string, $length)
{
$str = trim(strip_tags($string));
$strlen = strlen(utf8_decode($str));
// String is less than limit
if ($strlen <= $length) return $str;
// Shorten string, preserving whole "words" (non-whitespace)
preg_match('/^.{'.($length-1).'}\S*/su', $str, $match);
// Append ellipsis if needed (bytes length is OK to check)
if (strlen($match[0]) !== strlen($str)) $match[0] .= '...';
return $match[0];
}

Answer 3

Aside from the multibyte issue, maybe you can write it shorter
function gen_string($str, $limit) {
if ($str >= strlen($limit))
return $str;
$offset = -(strlen($str) - $limit);
return substr($str, 0, strrpos($str, ' ', $offset)).'...';
}
It will limit the length of the string, so rather than cut it after the first word beyond the limit, it ensures that the length is never larger than the limit.

Answer 4

strlen() cannot be used for UTF-8 string, because it would count also the continuation characters, which should not be counted.
You can try with the following code:
define('PREG_CLASS_UNICODE_WORD_BOUNDARY',
'\x{0}-\x{2F}\x{3A}-\x{40}\x{5B}-\x{60}\x{7B}-\x{A9}\x{AB}-\x{B1}\x{B4}' .
'\x{B6}-\x{B8}\x{BB}\x{BF}\x{D7}\x{F7}\x{2C2}-\x{2C5}\x{2D2}-\x{2DF}' .
'\x{2E5}-\x{2EB}\x{2ED}\x{2EF}-\x{2FF}\x{375}\x{37E}-\x{385}\x{387}\x{3F6}' .
'\x{482}\x{55A}-\x{55F}\x{589}-\x{58A}\x{5BE}\x{5C0}\x{5C3}\x{5C6}' .
'\x{5F3}-\x{60F}\x{61B}-\x{61F}\x{66A}-\x{66D}\x{6D4}\x{6DD}\x{6E9}' .
'\x{6FD}-\x{6FE}\x{700}-\x{70F}\x{7F6}-\x{7F9}\x{830}-\x{83E}' .
'\x{964}-\x{965}\x{970}\x{9F2}-\x{9F3}\x{9FA}-\x{9FB}\x{AF1}\x{B70}' .
'\x{BF3}-\x{BFA}\x{C7F}\x{CF1}-\x{CF2}\x{D79}\x{DF4}\x{E3F}\x{E4F}' .
'\x{E5A}-\x{E5B}\x{F01}-\x{F17}\x{F1A}-\x{F1F}\x{F34}\x{F36}\x{F38}' .
'\x{F3A}-\x{F3D}\x{F85}\x{FBE}-\x{FC5}\x{FC7}-\x{FD8}\x{104A}-\x{104F}' .
'\x{109E}-\x{109F}\x{10FB}\x{1360}-\x{1368}\x{1390}-\x{1399}\x{1400}' .
'\x{166D}-\x{166E}\x{1680}\x{169B}-\x{169C}\x{16EB}-\x{16ED}' .
'\x{1735}-\x{1736}\x{17B4}-\x{17B5}\x{17D4}-\x{17D6}\x{17D8}-\x{17DB}' .
'\x{1800}-\x{180A}\x{180E}\x{1940}-\x{1945}\x{19DE}-\x{19FF}' .
'\x{1A1E}-\x{1A1F}\x{1AA0}-\x{1AA6}\x{1AA8}-\x{1AAD}\x{1B5A}-\x{1B6A}' .
'\x{1B74}-\x{1B7C}\x{1C3B}-\x{1C3F}\x{1C7E}-\x{1C7F}\x{1CD3}\x{1FBD}' .
'\x{1FBF}-\x{1FC1}\x{1FCD}-\x{1FCF}\x{1FDD}-\x{1FDF}\x{1FED}-\x{1FEF}' .
'\x{1FFD}-\x{206F}\x{207A}-\x{207E}\x{208A}-\x{208E}\x{20A0}-\x{20B8}' .
'\x{2100}-\x{2101}\x{2103}-\x{2106}\x{2108}-\x{2109}\x{2114}' .
'\x{2116}-\x{2118}\x{211E}-\x{2123}\x{2125}\x{2127}\x{2129}\x{212E}' .
'\x{213A}-\x{213B}\x{2140}-\x{2144}\x{214A}-\x{214D}\x{214F}' .
'\x{2190}-\x{244A}\x{249C}-\x{24E9}\x{2500}-\x{2775}\x{2794}-\x{2B59}' .
'\x{2CE5}-\x{2CEA}\x{2CF9}-\x{2CFC}\x{2CFE}-\x{2CFF}\x{2E00}-\x{2E2E}' .
'\x{2E30}-\x{3004}\x{3008}-\x{3020}\x{3030}\x{3036}-\x{3037}' .
'\x{303D}-\x{303F}\x{309B}-\x{309C}\x{30A0}\x{30FB}\x{3190}-\x{3191}' .
'\x{3196}-\x{319F}\x{31C0}-\x{31E3}\x{3200}-\x{321E}\x{322A}-\x{3250}' .
'\x{3260}-\x{327F}\x{328A}-\x{32B0}\x{32C0}-\x{33FF}\x{4DC0}-\x{4DFF}' .
'\x{A490}-\x{A4C6}\x{A4FE}-\x{A4FF}\x{A60D}-\x{A60F}\x{A673}\x{A67E}' .
'\x{A6F2}-\x{A716}\x{A720}-\x{A721}\x{A789}-\x{A78A}\x{A828}-\x{A82B}' .
'\x{A836}-\x{A839}\x{A874}-\x{A877}\x{A8CE}-\x{A8CF}\x{A8F8}-\x{A8FA}' .
'\x{A92E}-\x{A92F}\x{A95F}\x{A9C1}-\x{A9CD}\x{A9DE}-\x{A9DF}' .
'\x{AA5C}-\x{AA5F}\x{AA77}-\x{AA79}\x{AADE}-\x{AADF}\x{ABEB}' .
'\x{D800}-\x{F8FF}\x{FB29}\x{FD3E}-\x{FD3F}\x{FDFC}-\x{FDFD}' .
'\x{FE10}-\x{FE19}\x{FE30}-\x{FE6B}\x{FEFF}-\x{FF0F}\x{FF1A}-\x{FF20}' .
'\x{FF3B}-\x{FF40}\x{FF5B}-\x{FF65}\x{FFE0}-\x{FFFD}');
function utf8_strlen($text) {
if (function_exists('mb_strlen')) {
return mb_strlen($text);
}
// Do not count UTF-8 continuation bytes.
return strlen(preg_replace("/[\x80-\xBF]/", '', $text));
}
function utf8_truncate($string, $max_length, $wordsafe = FALSE, $add_ellipsis = FALSE, $min_wordsafe_length = 1) {
$ellipsis = '';
$max_length = max($max_length, 0);
$min_wordsafe_length = max($min_wordsafe_length, 0);
if (utf8_strlen($string) <= $max_length) {
// No truncation needed, so don't add ellipsis, just return.
return $string;
}
if ($add_ellipsis) {
// Truncate ellipsis in case $max_length is small.
$ellipsis = utf8_substr('...', 0, $max_length);
$max_length -= utf8_strlen($ellipsis);
$max_length = max($max_length, 0);
}
if ($max_length <= $min_wordsafe_length) {
// Do not attempt word-safe if lengths are bad.
$wordsafe = FALSE;
}
if ($wordsafe) {
$matches = array();
// Find the last word boundary, if there is one within $min_wordsafe_length
// to $max_length characters. preg_match() is always greedy, so it will
// find the longest string possible.
$found = preg_match('/^(.{' . $min_wordsafe_length . ',' . $max_length . '})[' . PREG_CLASS_UNICODE_WORD_BOUNDARY . ']/u', $string, $matches);
if ($found) {
$string = $matches[1];
}
else {
$string = utf8_substr($string, 0, $max_length);
}
}
else {
$string = utf8_substr($string, 0, $max_length);
}
if ($add_ellipsis) {
$string .= $ellipsis;
}
return $string;
}
function utf8_substr($text, $start, $length = NULL) {
if (function_exists('mb_substr')) {
return $length === NULL ? mb_substr($text, $start) : mb_substr($text, $start, $length);
}
else {
$strlen = strlen($text);
// Find the starting byte offset.
$bytes = 0;
if ($start > 0) {
// Count all the continuation bytes from the start until we have found
// $start characters or the end of the string.
$bytes = -1;
$chars = -1;
while ($bytes < $strlen - 1 && $chars < $start) {
$bytes++;
$c = ord($text[$bytes]);
if ($c < 0x80 || $c >= 0xC0) {
$chars++;
}
}
}
elseif ($start < 0) {
// Count all the continuation bytes from the end until we have found
// abs($start) characters.
$start = abs($start);
$bytes = $strlen;
$chars = 0;
while ($bytes > 0 && $chars < $start) {
$bytes--;
$c = ord($text[$bytes]);
if ($c < 0x80 || $c >= 0xC0) {
$chars++;
}
}
}
$istart = $bytes;
// Find the ending byte offset.
if ($length === NULL) {
$iend = $strlen;
}
elseif ($length > 0) {
// Count all the continuation bytes from the starting index until we have
// found $length characters or reached the end of the string, then
// backtrace one byte.
$iend = $istart - 1;
$chars = -1;
$last_real = FALSE;
while ($iend < $strlen - 1 && $chars < $length) {
$iend++;
$c = ord($text[$iend]);
$last_real = FALSE;
if ($c < 0x80 || $c >= 0xC0) {
$chars++;
$last_real = TRUE;
}
}
// Backtrace one byte if the last character we found was a real character
// and we don't need it.
if ($last_real && $chars >= $length) {
$iend--;
}
}
elseif ($length < 0) {
// Count all the continuation bytes from the end until we have found
// abs($start) characters, then backtrace one byte.
$length = abs($length);
$iend = $strlen;
$chars = 0;
while ($iend > 0 && $chars < $length) {
$iend--;
$c = ord($text[$iend]);
if ($c < 0x80 || $c >= 0xC0) {
$chars++;
}
}
// Backtrace one byte if we are not at the beginning of the string.
if ($iend > 0) {
$iend--;
}
}
else {
// $length == 0, return an empty string.
return '';
}
return substr($text, $istart, max(0, $iend - $istart + 1));
}
}

Answer 5

For your return statement you could try:
return htmlspecialchars(trim($r));
EDIT: I tried your code as you provided it and it ran fine for me without having to use htmlspecialchars(). This is probably due to the face that in the <head> of the page the code was running on, the charset was set to UTF-8. So your options could be to set the encoding of the page like this:
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
or to use htmlspecialchars() as above.