How to get first x chars from a string, without cutting off the last word?

Question

I have the following string in a variable.

Stack Overflow is as frictionless and painless to use as we could make it.

I want to fetch first 28 characte

Answer 1

Here's one way you could do it:

$str = "Stack Overflow is as frictionless and painless to use as we could make it.";

$strMax = 28;
$strTrim = ((strlen($str) < $strMax-3) ? $str : substr($str, 0, $strMax-3)."...");

//or this way to trim to full words
$strFull = ((strlen($str) < $strMax-3) ? $str : strrpos(substr($str, 0, $strMax-3),' ')."...");