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[slimjim]

Wasn't sure how to post this.

I have a table with a colum called Description.

I am going to randomly query a row, but do not want to echo the whole Description. I want to shorten it up followed by ......

Example :
This is the link description of bla bla site and this and that..........

While actually the whole Description would be much longer...

Here is my simple query.

Can anyone help me out ?

$result = mysql_query ("SELECT * FROM Table where status='1' ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 1"); 
while ($myrow = mysql_fetch_array($result)){ 
		$link_id=$myrow["link_id"];
		$lurl=$myrow["lurl"];
	    $Description=$myrow["Description"];
}

[drew010]

$Description=$myrow["Description"];
$shortDesc = substr($Description, 0, 45) . "...";

that will make a 45 character description, that will be cut off, followed by ...

[slimjim]

Originally posted by drew010
$Description=$myrow["Description"];
$shortDesc = substr($Description, 0, 45) . "...";

that will make a 45 character description, that will be cut off, followed by ...

Just trying to understand this for in my future.

substr = returns part of a string

$Description is what we are shortening

Which is now renamed to $shortDesc of which we will use in the echo statement

First number is the starting point

Second number is the ending

then the
."..." is what follows the string

Correct ?

[drew010]

yes, everything is correct, except, the second number, is actually how many characters to grab from the starting point.

so substr($str, 0, 15) goes 15 chars from the first in the string
and
substr($str, 25, 10) goes 10 chars from the 25th.

[slimjim]

Thank you that was easy enough and now I know something I didn't earlier.

It feels good to learn something new...

Thank you and Thank you Php Builder again..

I am sure to post something else today...

[drawmack]

Be careful the above solution will break in the middle of words, here is how I short descriptions:

<?php
function smart_substr($string,$start,$length,$delimiter = ' ') {
   //if the substring is actually the entire string
    if($start == 0 && strlen($string) < $length)
        return $string;

//get the real length of the string without breaking
   //between delimiters
    $real_length = strpos($string,$delimiter,($start + $length));

$retval = substr($string,$start,$real_length);

return $retval;
} //end smart_substr
?>

In your case you would call it like this

<?php
$shortDesc = smart_substr($Description,0,45);
?>

This way it will never break in the middle of a word. It will find the end of the word nearest to the length you specify and then it will break there.

[slimjim]

Well i can't get either of those to work with the below code..

<?
  require("../conf/sys.php");
$filename = "directory.php"; // name of this file 
//$option = array (5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200); 
$default = 25; // default number of records per page 
$action = $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; // if this doesn't work, enter the filename 
$query="SELECT * FROM subcat where categoryg='$cate' and subcat='$categoryb' and status='1' ORDER BY hits DESC";

$opt_cnt = count ($option); 

$go = $_GET['go']; 
// paranoid 
if ($go == "") { 
$go = $default; 
} 
elseif (!in_array ($go, $option)) { 
$go = $default; 
} 
elseif (!is_numeric ($go)) { 
$go = $default; 
} 
$nol = $go; 
$limit = "0, $nol"; 
$count = 1; 
////
// control query------------------------------ 
/* this query checks how many records you have in your table. 
*/ 
echo "<div align=\"center\">";
echo "<center>";
$off_sql = mysql_query ("$query") or die ("Error in query: $off_sql".mysql_error()); 
$off_pag = ceil (mysql_num_rows($off_sql) / $nol); 
//-------------------------------------------- 

$off = $_GET['offset']; 
//paranoid 
if (get_magic_quotes_gpc() == 0) { 
$off = addslashes ($off); 
} 
if (!is_numeric ($off)) { 
$off = 1; 
} 
// this checks if user is trying to put something stupid in query string 
if ($off > $off_pag) { 
$off = 1; 
} 

if ($off == "1") { 
$limit = "0, $nol"; 
} 
elseif ($off <> "") { 
for ($i = 0; $i <= ($off - 1) * $nol; $i ++) { 
$limit = "$i, $nol"; 
$count = $i + 1; 
} 
} 
// Query to extract records from database. 
$sql = mysql_query ("$query LIMIT $limit") or die ("Error in query: $sql".mysql_error()); 

while ($row = mysql_fetch_object($sql)) { 

//Html code goes below here
echo "<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"3\" width=\"100%\">";
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td width=\"100%\">$row->link_id</td>";
echo "</tr>";
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td width=\"100%\">$row->Description</td>";
echo "</tr>";
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td width=\"100%\">$row->linkurl</td>";
echo "</tr>";
echo "</table>";
echo "<BR>";";
//Html code stops here
$count += 1; 
} 
echo "<br /><br />\r\n"; 
if ($off <> 1) { 
$prev = $off - 1; 
echo "[ &lt; <a href=\"$filename?offset=$prev&amp;go=$go\">prev</a> ] \r\n"; 
} 
for ($i = 1; $i <= $off_pag; $i ++) { 
if ($i == $off) { 
echo "[<b> $i </b>] \r\n"; 
} else { 
echo "[ <a href=\"$filename?offset=$i&amp;go=$go\">$i</a> ] \r\n"; 
} 
} 
if ($off < $off_pag) { 
$next = $off + 1; 
echo "[ <a href=\"$filename?offset=$next&amp;go=$go\">next</a> &gt; ] \r\n"; 
} 

echo "<br /><br />\r\n"; 
echo "Page $off of $off_pag<br />\r\n"; 
?>

[slimjim]

Ok forget it, i just redid my whole pagination and i got it to work.