sub trimTo { my( $str, $n ) = @_; ## Give back what they gave us if the nothing to do return $str if length $str < $n; my $lastSpace = 1 + rindex( $str, ' ', $n-3 ); ## Subtracting 3 allows for adding the '...' ## rindex finds the last space preceding the position ## or -1 if it fails. ## Adding 1 means that we can test whether it found the space with ## if( 1+rindex...) { ... ## or supply a default value ## 1 + rindex( ... ) || $default ## It also means that we get a length that we can supply ## directly to substr without having to increment it. substr( $str, 0, $lastSpace || $n-3 ) . '...'; ## The substr( ... ) returns from the start of string ## to the first space before the postition-3 (including that space) ## or the first $n characters of the string. ## Combining the two avoids a temporary var. ## Tack on the '...' }