A simple plugin for truncating long text strings.

gistfile1.js

(function($) {
	
	/**
	*	A simple jQuery I wrote to truncate long links (in the post footers, amongst others).
	*
	*	Usage:
	*	$("a.long-links").truncate( [ {limit: 40, truncationText: "..."} ] );
	*
	*/

	$.fn.truncate = function(options) {
		
		var settings = {
			limit: 40,
			truncationText: "..."
		};
		
		
		return this.each(function(){
			
			var chars,
				i,
				$this = $(this),
				str = $this.text();
			
			if(options){
				$.extend(settings, options);
			}
			
			chars = str.split('');
			
			if (chars.length > settings.limit) {
				for (i = chars.length - 1; i > -1; --i) {
					if (i > settings.limit) {
						chars.length = i;
					}
					else if (' ' === chars[i]) {
						chars.length = i;
						break;
					}
				}
				chars.push(' '+settings.truncationText);
			}
			
			$this.text(chars.join(''));
			
		});
		
	
	};
	
}) (jQuery);