Awesome truncate

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# Awesome truncate
# From: http://daniel.collectiveidea.com/blog/2007/7/10/a-prettier-truncate-helper 
#
# First regex truncates to the length, plus the rest of that word, if any.
# Second regex removes any trailing whitespace or punctuation (except ;).
# Unlike the regular truncate method, this avoids the problem with cutting
# in the middle of an entity ex.: truncate("this & that",9)  => "this &am..."
# though it will not be the exact length.
def awesome_truncate(text, length = 30, truncate_string = "...")
  return if text.nil?
  l = length - truncate_string.chars.length
  text.chars.length > length ? text[/\A.{#{l}}\w*\;?/m][/.*[\w\;]/m] + truncate_string : text
end