Best method of text truncating

Question

I see that there are Trimmer and Truncate out there that have been created for truncating text but I don't believe either does what it is I'm looking for.

I'd like to truncate text similar to how Hacksaw for ExpressionEngine works. Allowing me to allow or disallow html tags, and making sure that even if it cuts off before a tag is closed, that it automatically properly closes the tag. I wouldn't want to turn the entire lower half of my page into a hyperlink for instance if i happen to truncate mid-link. I do want to maintain the ability for links to be in the text that is being truncated, and multiple paragraphs, etc. however.

Any tips would be fantastic.

Answer 1

If you need to allow or disallow specific tags, you can use wordsmith plugin and its chop filter.

But if you don't need such advanced functionality, you can just use Twig macros.

In article Truncating text with Twig macros in Craft CMS on my blog I describe two macros - one that truncates by number of words and one that truncates by number of characters - while ensuring that truncated string does not have split words.

Answer 2

https://github.com/ryanshrum/hacksaw

This hasn't been fully tested for production, or documented for that matter, but I have migrated it over and tested basic usage as per the docs on devot-ee. It should, at the very least, give you a nice start.

You can use the Twig filter with: {{ entry.fieldHandle|hacksaw(words="100") }}

Answer 3

Doesn't answer the specific question but based on the title in search results it might be helpful for anyone just wanting to truncate a string:

{{ entry.title | length > 75 ? entry.title | slice(0, 75) ~ '...' : entry.title }}

Also doesn't require a plugin. Based on this.

Answer 4

Wordsmith plugin is very useful in manipulating the text. For example:

{{ entry.fieldHandle|chop(limit=100, unit='c', append=' ...') }}