PHP limiting output

mizzy posted this at 22:01 — 1st May 2003.

Joined: Jun 2001

Hi
Does anyone know a PHP or command routine to limit database output characters? ...say mySQL database field has 200 characters and I only need to display 100 with ...at the end. How do I do it
Thanks
Mizzy

ROB posted this at 03:22 — 2nd May 2003.

They have: 447 posts

Joined: Oct 1999

this should work

SELECT CONCAT(SUBSTRING(fieldname, 0, 100), '...') AS fieldname FROM tablename;

ROB posted this at 03:29 — 2nd May 2003.

They have: 447 posts

Joined: Oct 1999

or if you want a php function i use something like this

<?php
function strshorten($instr,$len) {
    $instr = trim($instr);
    if(strlen($instr) > $len) $instr = substr($instr, 0, $len) . '...';
    return $instr;
}

$string = 'this string has 29 characters';
echo strshorten($string, 16);
// prints 'this string has...'
?>

Mark Hensler posted this at 11:09 — 2nd May 2003.

He has: 4,048 posts

Joined: Aug 2000

I would very much recommend the first solution (SQL) over the second (PHP). This will occupy less memory, and may be a bit faster once the recordset is returned to PHP for further processing.

Mark Hensler
If there is no answer on Google, then there is no question.

mizzy posted this at 23:56 — 2nd May 2003.

They have: 47 posts

Joined: Jun 2001

Thanks ...works perfectly