mb safe string shortener

mb_str_shorten.php

<?php

function mb_str_shorten($content, $maxCharacters, $showDots = "&hellip;", $stopAtSpace = true, $encoding = 'UTF-8')
{
    if(mb_strlen($content, $encoding) > $maxCharacters) {
        if(!$stopAtSpace) {

            return mb_substr($content, 0, $maxCharacters, $encoding) . $showDots;
        } else {
            $toReturn = mb_substr($content, 0, $maxCharacters, $encoding);
            $pos      = mb_strrpos($toReturn, ' ', 0, $encoding);
            $toReturn = mb_substr($toReturn, 0, $pos, $encoding) . $showDots;

            return $toReturn;
        }
    } else {

        return $content;
    }
}