Yet another PHP excerpt function

excerpt.php

/**
 * @param $text
 * @param int $maxLength (default 200 characters)
 * @param string $ending (characters to append to the end of the excerpt)
 * @return string
 */
function excerpt($text, int $maxLength = 200, string $ending = '...'): string
{
    // collapse whitespace
    $text = preg_replace('/\s+/', ' ', $text);
    // strip tags
    $text = strip_tags(trim($text));
    // split on spaces...
    $words = explode(' ', $text);
    $outputString = '';
    $spacer = ' ';
    $characterCount = 0;
    // account for the suffix
    $maxLength = $maxLength - strlen($ending);

    // add words only if we are under the length
    for ($i = 0; $i < count($words); $i++) {
        $word = $words[$i];
        $characterCount += strlen($word) + strlen($spacer);
        if ($characterCount > $maxLength) {
            break;
        }
        $outputString .= $word . $spacer;
    }

    if ($characterCount > $maxLength) {
        $outputString = rtrim($outputString) . $ending;
    }
    return $outputString;
}