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Custom excerpt length & Read More link WordPress

Posted on 26th May, 2014 62 Comments

I often want to use a custom excerpt length in my themes. Custom excerpts can be really useful whether they are being used for the archives, home page or even when being used in meta description! Being able to add just the right amount of copy to a section is easy with this snippet.

New Excerpt Length

Functions.php

Add this to your functions.php:

/*
 * NEW EXCERPT LENGTH
 *************************************************************/
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;
}

Then to display this excerpt in your theme add this:

// Change the '38' to which ever number of words you would like to display
<?php $content = get_the_content(); echo wp_trim_words( $content , '38' ); ?>

If you would like to use this new excerpt for your page meta description then you may want to use this. In your header.php add your meta description with this.

	<?php if (is_single() || is_page() ) : if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); 
	// IF WE'RE ON THE SINGLE POST, A PAGE USE THE EXCERPT AS THE DESCRIPTION
	?>
         <meta name="description" content="<?php $content = get_the_content(); echo wp_trim_words( $content , '38' ); ?>" />
			 <?php endwhile; endif; elseif(is_home()) : 
	// IF WE'RE ON THE HOME PAGE THEN USE THE BLOG DESCRIPTION
	?>
         <meta name="description" content="<?php bloginfo('description'); ?>" />
			 <?php endif; ?>

Read More Links

If you’re adding a custom excerpt then why not add a nice new read-more link.

functions.php

/*
 * READ MORE
 *************************************************************/

function new_excerpt_more($more) {
global $post;
// This will automatically be added where the read-more link normally appears.
// Change the '<b>+</b> Read More' to your own message...
return '… <div class="read-more"><a class="button" href="'. get_permalink($post->ID) . '">' . '<b>+</b> Read More' . '</a></div>';
}
add_filter('excerpt_more', 'new_excerpt_more');

Comments

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Gary, I like your thinking. Good post mate 🙂

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  1. PHP use - [php] <?php code here ?> [/php]
  2. CSS use - [css] #code-here {} [/css]
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  4. JS use - [js] $(".codeHere") [/js]