Remove hellip and final punctuation from a WordPress excerpt (includes rtrim function)

Customise WordPress excerpt

/* Custom Excerpt */
 
// Remove default hellip 
function carawebs_remove_hellip( $more ) {
	    return '';
	}
	
add_filter('excerpt_more', 'carawebs_remove_hellip');
 
 
// Build a new excerpt with a nice Read More link

function carawebs_custom_excerpt() {
	
        //pass the value of the excerpt string to the variable $str
	$str = get_the_excerpt();
	
 	//use the rtrim function to edit $str and pass the edited value the variable $trimmed
        $trimmed = rtrim ( $str, ".,:;!?" );
 	
	//configure the read more link with the excerpt preceding it
        echo $trimmed; ?>&hellip;<br><a href="<?php echo get_permalink();?>">Read More&hellip;</a><?php
 
}
 
// Add to a Thesis 2.x hook
add_action ('hook_after_custom_excerpt', 'carawebs_custom_excerpt');