How to set character limit on the_content() and the_excerpt() in wordpress

Question

How do I set a character limit on the_content() and the_excerpt() in wordpress? I have only found solutions for the word limit - I want to be able to set an exact amount cha

Answer 1

Or even easier and without the need to create a filter: use PHP's mb_strimwidth to truncate a string to a certain width (length). Just make sure you use one of the get_ syntaxes. For example with the content:

This will cut the string at 400 characters and close it with .... Just add a "read more"-link to the end by pointing to the permalink with get_permalink().

Read more 

Of course you could also build the read more in the first line. Than just replace '...' with '[Read more]'