A WordPress group of functions for Cropping strings based on some settings

cropstring.php

<?php
/**
 * Count the words in a string, remove all the html before counting
 *
 * @since 0.1a
 * @access public
 *
 * @param string $text (required) Any kind of string works, even with html
 *      Default: 'null'.
 * @param string $type (required) The kind of return that you want, could be just an int or an array
 *      Possible values: '0','1'.
 *      Default: '0'.
 *
 * @return '$text' int/array
 */
function wordcount($text=null,$type=0) {
    if(!isset($text))
        return null;
    $text=explode(' ',preg_replace('/\s+/', ' ',wp_filter_nohtml_kses($text)));
    if($type=0) 
        return sizeof($text);
    elseif($type=1)
        return $text;
}

/**
 * Count the characters in a string, remove all the html before counting
 *
 * @since 0.1a
 * @access public
 *
 * @param string $text (required) Any kind of string works, even with html
 *      Default: 'null'.
 *
 * @return int
 */
function charcount($text=null) {
    if(!isset($text))
        return null;
    return strlen(preg_replace('/\s+/', ' ',wp_filter_nohtml_kses($text)));
}

/**
 * Limit a string by words using the function 'wordcount' to count the number of words and pair with the '$limit'
 *
 * @since 0.1a
 * @access public
 *
 * @param string $text (required) The string to limit
 *      Default: 'null'.
 * @param int $limit (required) The limit of words
 *      Default: 'null'.
 *
 * @return '$text' string
 */
function wordlimit($text=false,$limit=false) {
    if( !$text )
        return false;
    if( !is_numeric($limit) )
        return $text;
    $limit = absint($limit);
    $text_a = wordcount($text,1);
    $c = sizeof($text_a);
    if ( $c>$limit ) {
        for ( $i = $limit; $i <= $c; $i++) unset($text_a[$i]);
        $text = implode(' ',$text_a);
    }
    return $text;
}

/**
 * Limit a string by characters using the function 'charcount' to count the chars and pair with the '$limit'
 *
 * @since 0.1a
 * @access public
 *
 * @param string $text (required) The string to limit
 *      Default: 'null'.
 * @param int $limit (required) The limit of words
 *      Default: 'null'.
 *
 * @return '$text' string
 */
function charlimit($text=false,$limit=false) {
    if(!$text)
        return false;
    if( !is_numeric($limit) )
        return $text;
    $limit = absint($limit);
    $c = charcount($text);
    if ($c>$limit)
        $text = mb_substr($text,0,$limit);
    return $text;
}

/**
 * Function to limit(words or characters) a text
 *
 * @since 0.1
 * @access public
 *
 * @param string/array $args The args to make the function works
 * - 'limit' (required) false/int Using false to just append the 'before' and 'after' html or an int to limit the size of the text
 *      Possible values: 'false', ints.
 *      Default: 'null'.
 * - 'before' (optional) string An text/html to append before the excerpt
 *      Default: ''.
 * - 'after' (optional) string An text/html to append after the excerpt
 *      Default: ''.
 * - 'echo' (required) bool Echos the text or just return the value
 *      Default: 'true'.
 * - 'echo' (required) bool The text to be limited
 *      Default: ''.
 * - 'type' (required) string Limit the excerpt size by word or char
 *      Possible values: 'word', 'char'.
 *      Default: 'word'.
 *
 * @return 'text' string Might echo or return based on the $args
 */
function cropstring($args) {
    $defaults = array (
        'limit' => null,
        'before' => '',
        'after' => '',
        'content' => '',
        'echo' => true,
        'by' => 'word'
    );
    $args=wp_parse_args($args, $defaults);
    extract($args, EXTR_SKIP);

    if(!isset($limit))
        if($echo==true) echo $content; else return $content;
                
    if(!is_numeric($limit))
        if($echo==true) echo $content; else return $content;

    if(!isset($by))
        $by='word';

    if ($by=='char')
        $count=charcount($content);
    else
        $count=count(wordcount($content));

    if ($count>$limit){
        if ($by=='char')
            $cropped=charlimit($content, $limit);
        else
            $cropped=wordlimit($content, $limit);
    }

    if(isset($cropped))
        $content = $before.$cropped.$after;

    if($echo==true) echo $content; else return $content;
}