Re: How do I truncate a string while preserving words?

Does your string contain a space in the first N characters? If not, abort.
Truncate at N+1 characters
Truncate at last space or in string (use the rindex function)

sub truncate_string {
  my($string, $maxlength) = @_;
  $string = substr($string, 0, $maxlength+1);
  die("Can't truncate, no spaces\n") if(index($string, ' ') == -1);
  return substr($string, 0, rindex($string, ' ') - 1);
}
[download]

All code is, of course, untested.

Comment on Re: How do I truncate a string while preserving words? Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^2: How do I truncate a string while preserving words? by bart (Canon) on May 11, 2007 at 11:39 UTC
You needn't cut it if the string is not longer than maxlength. Just return the original string then. `return substr($string, 0, rindex($string, ' ') - 1);` I'd cut it on any whitespace, or at least, in front of the last partial word, like this: `$string =~ s/\s[\w\-]$/.../; return $string;` [download] I'm assuming that a hyphen is a part of a word. Your idea may differ from mine. p.s. Hmm, that'll leave any trailing nonword/nonspace characters, for example punctuation characters, intact, making the string just one character too long. Perhaps this is better? `$string =~ s/\s(?:[\w\-]+\|\W)$/.../;` [download] or `$string =~ s/\s[\w\-]+$/.../ or $string =~ s/\s*\W$/.../;` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]

Replies are listed 'Best First'.

Re^2: How do I truncate a string while preserving words?
by bart (Canon) on May 11, 2007 at 11:39 UTC

return substr($string, 0, rindex($string, ' ') - 1);

$string =~ s/\s*[\w\-]*$/.../;
return $string;
[download]

p.s. Hmm, that'll leave any trailing nonword/nonspace characters, for example punctuation characters, intact, making the string just one character too long.

Perhaps this is better?

$string =~ s/\s*(?:[\w\-]+|\W)$/.../;
[download]

$string =~ s/\s*[\w\-]+$/.../ or $string =~ s/\s*\W$/.../;
[download]

[reply]
[d/l]
[select]