sub trimTo {
    my( $str, $n ) = @_;    
    return $str if length $str < $n;
    substr( $str, 0, 1 + rindex( $str, ' ', $n-3 ) || $n-3 ) . '...';
}

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Examine what is said, not who speaks.
"Efficiency is intelligent laziness." -David Dunham
"Think for yourself!" - Abigail
"Memory, processor, disk in that order on the hardware side. Algorithm, algoritm, algorithm on the code side." - tachyon

In reply to Re: In search of a better way to trim string length by BrowserUk
in thread In search of a better way to trim string by kiat

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