All you need to do is to run the suspected long url through one regex. Eg.

$url =~ s/^(.{35}).{3,}(.{15})$/$1...$2/;
If the url isn't too long then the regex won't match and it will remain unchanged. Otherwise an elipsis will replace the overflow characters in the middle.

Update: replaced an asterix with a plus so the elipsis will replace at least one character.

Update: changed the plus to {3,} and the 53 to 35. Thanks madhatter

-caedes


In reply to Re: Short URL? by caedes
in thread Short URL? by bobafifi

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