How to Preserve Word Boundaries When Using PHP's `substr` Function?

Preserving Word Boundaries with PHP's substr Function

The PHP substr function allows you to extract a substring from a given string. However, it can sometimes result in the extraction ending abruptly in the middle of a word. This can be problematic if you need to maintain the integrity of the text.

Solution: Using Regular Expressions to Identify Word Boundaries

To address this issue, you can utilize regular expressions (regex) to identify word boundaries and ensure that the substring ends on a complete word. Regular expressions are powerful tools that enable pattern matching within text.

The Regex Approach

The regex approach involves using the strpos function in conjunction with substr. Here's how it works:

1. Use substr to extract the first 260 characters of the string.
2. Use strpos to find the first occurrence of a space character after the 260th character.
3. Use substr again, this time specifying the new end point as the position of the space character.

The resulting code looks like this:

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

By using this approach, you ensure that the end point of the substring coincides with a word boundary, resulting in a string that ends on a complete word.

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