Ellipsize String

helper.php

/**
 * Ellipsize String
 *
 * This function will strip tags from a string, split it at its max_length and ellipsize
 *
 * @param    string    string to ellipsize
 * @param    int    max length of string
 * @param    mixed    int (1|0) or float, .5, .2, etc for position to split
 * @param    string    ellipsis ; Default '...'
 * @return    string    ellipsized string
 */
function _ellipsize($str, $max_length, $position = 1, $ellipsis = '…') {
    // Strip tags
    $str = trim(strip_tags($str));

    // Is the string long enough to ellipsize?
    if (mb_strlen($str) <= $max_length) {
        return $str;
    }

    $beg      = mb_substr($str, 0, floor($max_length * $position));
    $position = ($position > 1) ? 1 : $position;

    if ($position === 1) {
        $end = mb_substr($str, 0, -($max_length - mb_strlen($beg)));
    } else {
        $end = mb_substr($str, -($max_length - mb_strlen($beg)));
    }

    return $beg . $ellipsis . $end;
}