Shorten a string?

[Twey]

Works, but one long word (or just a random string of characters, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...) would bypass it.

[djr33]

//shrug

function cut_it($str,$len=20) { //default is 20, but you can switch to anything you want here on when calling it
if (strlen($str)<=$len) { return $str; }
$str = wordwrap($str,$len); //defaults to the behaviour twey setup
$str = explode("\n",$str,2); //lazy-- you could use substr/strpos, etc
$str = $str[0];
if ($str>$len) {
$str = substr($str,0,$len-3).'...';
}
return $str;
}
$test = 'whatever and stuff this is some text etc';
$test = cut_it($test,15); 

Anyway, your function probably makes more sense. If anyone wants to use this, you could (or I would) make the ending '...' dynamic.

[Twey]

Mm. Handy though. Here:

function truncate_string($tr, $len, $tail = '...') {
  if(strlen($tr) > $len) {
    $tr = explode("\n", wordwrap(str_replace("\n", "\0", $tr), $len), 2);
    $tr = str_replace("\0", "\n", substr($tr[0], 0, $len) . $tail);
  }
  return $tr;
}

[djr33]

function truncate_string($tr, $len, $tail = '...') {
  if(strlen($tr) > $len) {
$len = $len-3;
    $tr = explode("\n", wordwrap(str_replace("\n", "\0", $tr), $len), 2);
    $tr = str_replace("\0", "\n", substr($tr[0], 0, $len) . $tail);
  }
  return $tr;
}

[Twey]

No. For a start I just don't think that's a good idea: the actual string will be truncated shorter than the specified number of characters. If I say I want 20 characters of the string to be displayed, I'd be mightily annoyed if it actually got cut down to 17, and that would take me a while to debug if this function was closed off in a black box somewhere. It's just not intuitive.

Secondly, if it were to be done, you'd need strlen($tail) not a static 3, you'd have to take into account what to do if the tail were longer than $len, &c., none of which options are at all intuitive in my opinion.

Thirdly, what's wrong with $len -= 3;?

[djr33]

-=3 is fine.

Well, I can see what you mean about it being ambiguous, but having the string longer than the allowed maximum is strange. You have only 20 characters of space, but then need room for the elipses?

And, yes, you're right-- strlen($tail).

[Twey]

You have only 20 characters of space, but then need room for the elipses?

I might set it to 20 then be a little puzzled when it didn't quite fit, but I'd work it out pretty quickly. If I set it to 20 and only got 17 characters, however, I wouldn't immediately recognise the source of the bug.

[djr33]

If I set it to 20 and only got 17 characters

No... it WOULD Be 20 characters. Do dots not count? You are outputting a string to fit in a small space. (Let's assume this is courier, or another such font, so we don't need to consider [as it would be very difficult anyway, though perhaps a fun task for GD] the width of individual characters].)

You have 20 spots-- you get 20 characters. Good. You get 23... and... problem.

Though it's only 17 of CONTENT, that still is how much space you have. To maximize content, use no tail.


As for having a tail longer than the character limit... uh... that defeats the point. It's like asking "How many pickup trucks can I fix under my table?"-- and hopefully no one would do that.

[Twey]

No... it WOULD Be 20 characters. Do dots not count?

Twenty characters of the string.

As for having a tail longer than the character limit... uh... that defeats the point. It's like asking "How many pickup trucks can I fix under my table?"-- and hopefully no one would do that.

That's true, but in a real case you'd have to deal with it somehow.

[djr33]

Twenty characters of the string.

No. The idea isn't twenty characters of the string, or twenty you like, or twenty you want-- it's twenty that fits within a certain area. If you JUST want the string, go ahead and remove the ellipses... guess that serves no point. So, use no tail, and then you get up to exactly 20 characters.

That's true, but in a real case you'd have to deal with it somehow.

In a real case where someone wants to place pickup trucks under a table? There might be someone (probably drunk) who would try such a thing. But it doesn't mean anyone really wants to. If you really want to add a longer string to the end, it's a different situation entirely.

You could set the function to return an array, the second parameter of which is if the string needs the tail or not (which, if it's longer, would probably actually not need it), then check that and add it manually after in such a situation.

I can't think of a situation where I'd want to have it return the number + tail*, nor one in which I'd want a bizarre tail.

(*Actually, just setting the initial functionc all for thisfunc($str,$len+strlen($tail),$tail) would give a reasonable response because you'd get up to ±3 characters, then, once it was ±3 less than the max length, it would add on the tail. Guess it would work.)


Anyway, there are theoretical needs for making this function handle anything, but there's a reason that the space shuttle doesn't have a propeller and torpedoes.