Published:
02 Nov 2003
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Abstract
Sometimes you need to limit the length of a string by truncating it, but you don't want to leave a fraction of a word behind. Using this VBScript function, you can limit the length of a string while retaining only complete words. |
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by Topher Jentoft
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| Introduction |
For the front page of the aspalliance.com site, we were trying to show a substring of article descriptions truncated after so many characters and then followed by "...more!" as a link for people to click to read the full article. Since I only wrote the thing using the VBScript "Left" function, it was indiscriminately cutting off the description in mid-word. This didn't really bother me too much, but it wasn't ideal. Well, it bothered one of our readers enough for them to do something about it, and so they sent in a function to truncate the description, but to ensure that no words are cut off. |
| Code |
Below is the function that is used to accomplish this task: ' Copyrights (c) 2000, Martin Jansen
' This function chops the last word of a given string.
Function ChopLastWord( Line, Length )
Dim S1, S2, I
ChopLastWord = ""
S1 = Left( Line, Length )
S2 = Left( Line, Length )
For I = Len(S1) to 1 step -1
if Mid(S1,I,1) = " " then
S2 = Left(S1,I)
I = 0
end if
Next
ChopLastWord = S2
End Function
This function is used just like Left(), taking an input string and a length. The length is the maximum length that the result can be, but typically the result will be LESS than this length because it will chop off entire words until the full string is less than the provided length. |
| Alternative Code |
Of course, there is always more than one way to skin a cat, especially when it comes to programming. Here's what Michael Brinkley had to offer that does the same thing with a lot less work: Function truncLine(inputString,maxlength)
If len(inputString) > maxlength Then
inputString = left(inputString,maxlength)
inputString = left(inputString,inStrRev(inputString," "))
End If
truncLine = inputString
End Function
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User Comments
Title:
ASP.NET Version
Name:
Martin Jansen
Date:
2009-02-03 9:10:56 AM
Comment:
I've created a .NET Version of the function (Both VB.NET as C#)
VB.NET:
Function truncLine(ByVal inputString As String, ByVal maxlength As Integer) As String
If inputString.Length > maxlength Then
inputString = inputString.Substring(0, maxlength)
inputString = inputString.Substring(0, inputString.LastIndexOf(" "))
End If
truncLine = inputString
End Function
C#
public string truncLine(string inputString, int maxlength)
{
if (inputString.Length > maxlength) {
inputString = inputString.Substring(0, maxlength);
inputString = inputString.Substring(0, inputString.LastIndexOf(" "));
}
return inputString;
}
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Title:
ASP.NET Version
Name:
Martin Jansen
Date:
2009-02-03 9:08:40 AM
Comment:
I've created a .NET Version of the function (Both VB.NET as C#)
VB.NET:
Function truncLine(ByVal inputString As String, ByVal maxlength As Integer) As String
If inputString.Length > maxlength Then
inputString = inputString.Substring(0, maxlength)
inputString = inputString.Substring(0, inputString.LastIndexOf(" ")) & "..."
End If
truncLine = inputString
End Function
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Title:
Bothe Great Solutions
Name:
David Johndrow
Date:
2007-02-02 12:15:59 PM
Comment:
Thanks, very fast and easy to implement.
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Title:
satish
Name:
satish
Date:
2005-05-21 2:29:04 AM
Comment:
thank you
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Title:
ChopLastWord Function
Name:
ChopLastWord Function
Date:
2004-07-09 7:32:41 PM
Comment:
Thank you so much for this!
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