Smart Excerpts

smart-excerpts

<?php
/*
 * This asks first for a Yoast SEO meta description,
 * If that's not present, then it asks for the excerpt of the post,
 * If that's not present, then it strips the content 
 * In this case, I have an excerpt length setting in the Customizer
 * Both the excerpt and content stripping, also strip shortcodes
 * @author       Matt Cromwell <[email protected]>
 * @copyright    Copyright (c) 2014, Matt Cromwell
 * @license      http://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.php GNU Public License
 */
   
//Definitions
$yoastdesc = get_post_meta(get_the_ID(), '_yoast_wpseo_metadesc', true);
$excerptlength = get_theme_mod('excerpt_length', 25);
$excerpt = get_the_excerpt();
$content = get_the_content();
$screenreader = '<a href="' . get_permalink() . '"><span class="screen-reader-text">' . get_the_title( ) . '</span>Read More &hellip;</a>';

//Check for Yoast meta description first					
if(!empty($yoastdesc)) {
	
	//Trim it according the the excerpt length and include Twenty Fifteen's screenreader markup
	$trimyoast = wp_trim_words($yoastdesc, $excerptlength, $screenreader);
	echo $trimyoast;
	
	//If that fails, check for a manual excerpt
	} elseif(has_excerpt() == true) {
		
		//Trim that according to the excerpt length 
		//and include Twenty Fifteen's screenreader markup
		$trimexcerpt = wp_trim_words( $excerpt , $excerptlength, $screenreader  );
		
		//There's almost no chance there's shortcodes in there, 
		//but let's be careful and strip 'em out anyway
		echo strip_shortcodes($trimexcerpt); 
	
	//If both of those fail, grab the content of the post itself	
	} else {
		//Trim the content according to the excerpt length 
		//and include Twenty Fifteen's screenreader markup
		$trimmed_content = wp_trim_words( $content, $excerptlength, $screenreader );
		
		//Shortcodes are VERY likely here, so strip 'em out
		echo strip_shortcodes($trimmed_content);						
	}
?>

I will say additionally that I just today stumbled on the wp_html_excerpt function, which will allow me to replace wp_trim_words completely and will be much cleaner. Just not sure when I'll implement that exactly yet...