PHP function to shorten a string

gistfile1.txt

function shortenText($text, $chars) { 

    // Change to the number of characters you want to display  
    $text = $text." "; 
    $text = substr($text,0,$chars); 
    $text = substr($text,0,strrpos($text,' ')); 
    $text = $text."..."; 

    return $text; 
}