shorten

Written by Balazs Halasy, 02/05/2004 Updated 04/06/2006 by Svitlana Shatokhina

Summary

Returns a shortened version of the input string.

Usage

input|shorten( [ length [, sequence [, trim_type ] ] ] )

Parameters

Name	Type	Description	Required
length	integer	The desired length of the returned string.	No.
sequence	string	Custom trailing/end-sequence.	No.
trim_type	string	Controls the type of trimming: "right" (default) or "middle".	No.

Returns

A shortened version of the input string.

Description

This operator shortens the input string to "length" characters and adds a trailing sequence. Please note that the "length" parameter also includes the length of the trailing sequence. If the input string is shorter than "length", it will not be shortened. The default length is 80, the default trailing sequence is three dots: "...". The third parameter controls the type of trimming, it can be set to either "right" (default) or "middle".

Examples

Example 1

{'Led Zeppelin rocks!'|shorten( 15 )}

The following output will be produced: "Led Zeppelin...".

Example 2

{"eZ Systems"|shorten( 7, '...' , 'middle' )}

The following output will be produced: "eZ...ms".

Contributors

Balazs Halasy Author 02/05/2004
Svitlana Shatokhina Updated 04/06/2006
P. Renaud Commenter 03/01/2007
Xavier Commenter 03/10/2007
Rev Commenter 03/10/2008
Pike Commenter 05/02/2008

Comments (4 historical)

Written by readers of the earlier documentation sites, kept as they were.

Beware of xml :)

P. Renaud · 03/01/2007 02:46 pm
Shorten is a "as is" operator, and will shorten crudely your xml text, counting tags as simple text, and producing seemingly strange output.
A solution is to use the Php strip_tags operator, as follows :
```
{def $xml_content=$node.data_map.champ_xml.data_text}
{def $text_content=$xml_content|strip_tags()}
{$text_content|shorten(100)}
```
In order to be able to use strip_tags, you have to add it to authorized eZ template operators. Edit the template.ini.append.php file of your siteaccess (create it if it does not exist), and add
```
[PHP]
PHPOperatorList[strip_tags]=strip_tags
```
Forum links :
http://ez.no/community/forum/setu...g_text_from_summarizing_ezxmltext__1
http://ez.no/community/forum/deve...e_item_shorten_100_is_not_working__1
A more flexible way

Xavier · 03/10/2007 10:46 am

Your solution has a major problem: it destroys all the new lines and screws the layout.
This extension allows to shorten the xml result, even while keeping all (or a selection of) xml tags.
http://projects.ez.no/xmlwash
as an added bonus, it offers a bigger security, no matter your ez config.
1. Re: A more flexible way
  
  Rev · 03/10/2008 10:31 am
  
  Another solution is to override the view of the XMLtext so you shorten INSIDE the view.
word cut

Pike · 05/02/2008 09:00 am

if you want to shorten a text without cutting it in the middle of a word, use WordCut:
http://ez.no/developer/contribs/template_plugins/wordcut_extension

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