Smarty : substr a variable

Question

How can I print the first n characters of a smarty variable, e.g. the first 30 characters of {$var}?

Answer 1

You should use truncate modifier:

{$var|truncate:30}

More information here.

Answer 2

Now there is a function:

{$var|substr:0:30}

or mb_substr for UTF-8 variables:

{$var|mb_substr:0:30}

Answer 3

Regarding to your problem Jojo already gave the correct answer.

You should use truncate modifier:

{$var|truncate:30}

But for usability and seo-reaons it would be better to shorten the text via css with text-overflow property. It allows you to print the whole text out to the client but shorten it to a specific width/length and show ... instead.