How to Ensure PHP substr Function Ends at Words, Not Characters?

Ensure PHP substr Function Ends at Words, Not Characters

The PHP substr() function is a powerful tool for excerpting substrings from a given string. However, it can be frustrating when the excerpt ends in the middle of a word. To resolve this, we can employ regular expressions to find the nearest word boundary to ensure the excerpt ends at a natural word break.

Solution Using Regular Expressions:

The following code snippet demonstrates how to modify the original substr() call to achieve this behavior:

substr($body, 0, strpos($body, ' ', 260))

Explanation:

• strpos($body, ' ', 260) searches for the position of the first whitespace character (the space between words) within a substring of length 260 from the beginning of the original string $body.
• If found within the specified length, substr() uses this position as the end point of the excerpt, ensuring the excerpt ends at the nearest word boundary.
• If no whitespace character is found within the specified length, substr() will return the entire substring up to the specified length.

Example:

Consider the following string:

$body = "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.";

Using the modified substr() call, we can extract a portion of the string that ends at a word boundary:

$excerpt = substr($body, 0, strpos($body, ' ', 260));

Output:

"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet"

As you can see, the excerpt ends at the nearest word boundary, providing a more natural and complete result.

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