There are no built-in WordPress functions to trim strings by character count.
/**
* Get a limited part of the content - sans html tags and shortcodes -
* according to the amount written in $limit. Make sure words aren't cut in the middle
* @param int $limit - number of characters
* @return string - the shortened content
*/
function mop_the_short_content($limit) {
$content = get_the_content();
/* sometimes there are <p> tags that separate the words, and when the tags are removed,
* words from adjoining paragraphs stick together.
* so replace the end <p> tags with space, to ensure unstickinees of words */
$content = str_replace('</p>', ' ', $content);
$content = strip_tags($content);
$content = strip_shortcodes($content);
$ret = $content; /* if the limit is more than the length, this will be returned */
if (mb_strlen($content) >= $limit) {
$ret = mb_substr($content, 0, $limit);
// make sure not to cut the words in the middle:
// 1. first check if the substring already ends with a space
if (mb_substr($ret, -1) !== ' ') {
// 2. If it doesn't, find the last space before the end of the string
$space_pos_in_substr = mb_strrpos($ret, ' ');
// 3. then find the next space after the end of the string(using the original string)
$space_pos_in_content = mb_strpos($content, ' ', $limit);
// 4. now compare the distance of each space position from the limit
if ($space_pos_in_content - $limit <= $limit - $space_pos_in_substr) {
/* if the closest space is in the original string, take the substring from there*/
$ret = mb_substr($content, 0, $space_pos_in_content);
} else {
// else take the substring from the original string, but with the earlier (space) position
$ret = mb_substr($content, 0, $space_pos_in_substr);
}
}
}
return $ret . '...';
}