Question

I would like to insert a read more HTML bit at a certain position in an HTML fragment – say after the 10th word. I will then, via JavaScript, hide the text after the “read more” and only show it on click.

The JavaScript part is ok. As to the PHP part.

It seemed simple at first – but the problem is that tags mess up the word count and the truncation. So I would need to close any opened tag which closing counterpart is beyond the “read more”.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Answer 1

I don’t know exactly where this source is from but I’ve been using this piece of code, it’s excellent.

/**
* @desc Cut given plain/HTML text nicely
* @param string text to cut
* @param int approximetly length of desired text length
* @param int optional length, how far text can variante from approximetly length
* @param bool optional can we cut words
* @param bool optional do we need to append three dots to the end of cutted text
* @return string cutted text
*/

function htmlSubstr($text, $approxLength, $lengthOffset = 20, $cutWords = FALSE, $dotsAtEnd = TRUE) {
    mb_internal_encoding('UTF-8');
    // $approxLength:
    // The approximate length you want the concatenated text to be

    // $lengthOffset:
    // The variation in how long the text can be in this example text
    // length will be between 200 and 200-20=180 characters and the
    // character where the last tag ends
    // Reset tag counter & quote checker
    $tag_counter = 0;
    $quotes_on = FALSE;

    // Check if the text is too long
    if (mb_strlen($text) > $approxLength) {
        // Reset the tag_counter and pass through (part of) the entire text
        $c = 0;
        for ($i = 0; $i < mb_strlen($text); $i++) {
            // Load the current character and the next one
            // if the string has not arrived at the last character
            $current_char = mb_substr($text,$i,1);
            if ($i < mb_strlen($text) - 1) {
                $next_char = mb_substr($text,$i + 1,1);
            } else {
                $next_char = "";
            }

            // First check if quotes are on
            if (!$quotes_on) {
                // Check if it's a tag
                // On a "<" add 3 if it's an opening tag (like <a href...)
                // or add only 1 if it's an ending tag (like </a>)
                if ($current_char == '<') {
                    if ($next_char == '/') {
                        $tag_counter += 1;
                    } else {
                        $tag_counter += 3;
                    }
                }

                // Slash signifies an ending (like </a> or ... />)
                // substract 2
                if ($current_char == '/' && $tag_counter <> 0) $tag_counter -= 2;
                // On a ">" substract 1
                if ($current_char == '>') $tag_counter -= 1;
                // If quotes are encountered, start ignoring the tags
                // (for directory slashes)
                if ($current_char == '"') $quotes_on = TRUE;
            } else {
                // IF quotes are encountered again, turn it back off
                if ($current_char == '"') $quotes_on = FALSE;
            }

            // Count only the chars outside html tags
            if($tag_counter == 2 || $tag_counter == 0) $c++;

            // Check if the counter has reached the minimum length yet,
            // then wait for the tag_counter to become 0, and chop the string there
            if ($c > $approxLength - $lengthOffset && $tag_counter == 0 && ($next_char == ' ' || $cutWords == TRUE)) {
                $text = mb_substr($text,0,$i + 1);
                if($dotsAtEnd){
                    $text .= '...';
                }

                return $text;
            }
        }
    }
    return $text;
}