Customizing the_excerpt()

June 21, 2017

Change the default number of words returned by the_excerpt() using this function:

// excerpt length 
function custom_excerpt_length( $length ) {
 return 30;
}
add_filter( 'excerpt_length', 'custom_excerpt_length', 999 );

Sourced here.

Here is another method to customize the excerpt that worked instead:

function excerpt($limit) {
      $excerpt = explode(' ', get_the_excerpt(), $limit);
      if (count($excerpt)>=$limit) {
        array_pop($excerpt);
        $excerpt = implode(" ",$excerpt).'...';
      } else {
        $excerpt = implode(" ",$excerpt);
      } 
      $excerpt = preg_replace('`\[[^\]]*\]`','',$excerpt);
      return $excerpt;
}

function content($limit) {
      $content = explode(' ', get_the_content(), $limit);
      if (count($content)>=$limit) {
        array_pop($content);
        $content = implode(" ",$content).'...';
      } else {
        $content = implode(" ",$content);
      } 
      $content = preg_replace('/\[.+\]/','', $content);
      $content = apply_filters('the_content', $content); 
      $content = str_replace(']]>', ']]>', $content);
      return $content;
}

Display in template:

<?php echo excerpt(25); ?>

Source.

---

Change the “Read More” excerpt text:

// Replaces the excerpt "Read More" text by a link
function new_excerpt_more($more) {
       global $post;
 return '<a class="moretag" href="'. get_permalink($post->ID) . '"> Read the full article...</a>';
}
add_filter('excerpt_more', 'new_excerpt_more');

Be as complex, or as simple as you want:

// excerpt text
function new_excerpt_more($more) {
       global $post;
       return ' ...';
}
add_filter('excerpt_more', 'new_excerpt_more');

Sourced here.