Continuum Theme – Excerpt length

Here is a custom function I’ve written to modify your excerpt however you want. You should NOT be changing any core files to make modifications, as these will be overwritten by any updates made to the WordPress framework:

remove_filter('get_the_excerpt', 'wp_trim_excerpt');
add_filter('get_the_excerpt', 'preserve_excerpt_format');
function preserve_excerpt_format($text)
{
    global $post;
    $raw_excerpt = $text;
    if ('' == $text )
    {
        $text = get_the_content('');
        $text = strip_shortcodes($text);
        $text = apply_filters('the_content', $text);
        $text = str_replace(']]>', ']]>', $text);

        $exceptions="<p>,<a>,<em>,<strong>,<br>"; //PRESERVE THESE TAGS, ADD/REMOVE AS NEEDED
        $text = strip_tags($text, $exceptions);

        $maxCount = 55; //DEFAULT WP WORD COUNT, INCREASE AS NEEDED
        $excerpt_length = apply_filters('excerpt_length', $maxCount);

        $moreText=".... <a class="blue" href="".get_permalink($post->ID).'">Read More &gt;&gt;</a>'; //CUSTOM MORE TEXT, CHANGE AS NEEDED
        $excerpt_more = apply_filters('excerpt_more', $moreText);

        $words = preg_split("/[\n\r\t ]+/", $text, $excerpt_length+1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY);
        if(count($words) > $excerpt_length)
        {
            array_pop($words);
            $text = implode(' ', $words);
            $text = $text.$excerpt_more;
        }
        else
            $text = implode(' ', $words);
    }
    return apply_filters('wp_trim_excerpt', $text, $raw_excerpt);
}

Place this in the functions.php file of your current theme, and change as needed.