Shorten text with preg_replace()

Shorten text with preg_replace()

If you want to shorten your description text while removing any unwanted special characters, there is an efficient way to do it.
This is advantageous in product_listing.php, for example.

The shortened text is not cut off in the middle of the word, but only afterwards.

Check whether the following section is defined in the sql query:

SUBSTRING_INDEX(pd.products_description, ' ', '10') as products_description,

Change this so that the base query looks like this:

pd.products_description,

Then insert this code sequence:

    $originaldescriptionstring = $variable['products_description']; 
    $outputdescriptionstring = preg_replace ('/<[^>]*>/', '', $originaldescriptionstring);
    $dsc_string	= $outputdescriptionstring;
    $dsc_length	= '45';
    $dsc_output	= preg_replace( '/[^ ]*$/', '', substr( $dsc_string, 0, $dsc_length ) ) . ' ...';

At the point of the issued product description:
Example:

 . $variable['products_description'] . 

replace with the following:

 . $dsc_output . 

or

<?php echo $variable['products_description'];?>

replace with the following:

<?php echo $dsc_output;?>

The text is shortened to 45 letters, all special characters are removed and the last word is not cut off in the middle.