PHP function to truncate a string to a certain length, and replace overflow with an ellip, makes sure not to truncate mid-word.

truncate.php

<?php

function truncate($text, $length = 75, $append = '&hellip;') {

	$length = (int) $length;
	$text = trim( strip_tags( $text ) );

	if ( strlen( $text ) > $length ) {
		$text = substr( $text, 0, $length + 1 );
		$words = preg_split( "/[\s]|&nbsp;/", $text, -1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY );
		preg_match( "/[\s]|&nbsp;/", $text, $lastchar, 0, $length );
		if ( empty( $lastchar ) )
			array_pop( $words );

		$text = implode( ' ', $words ) . $append;
	}

	return $text;
}

?>