WordPress: the_excerpt customizations

functions.php

<?php
/**
 * Changing the excerpt length
 * 
 * the default length is 55 words and the code below changes it to 25 words
 */
function custom_excerpt_length( $length ) {
	return 25;
}
add_filter( 'excerpt_length', 'custom_excerpt_length', 999 );

/**
 * Adding a 'Read More' link
 * 
 * the code below removes the hideous '[...]' from the end of the_excerpt() and adds '... Read More'
 */
function custom_excerpt_more( $more ) {
	return ' ... <a class="read-more" href="' . get_permalink( get_the_ID() ) . '">' . __( 'Read More', 'your-text-domain' ) . '</a>';
}
add_filter( 'excerpt_more', 'custom_excerpt_more' );

/**
 * Adding css class to <p> wrapper
 * 
 * The code below adds the class 'excerpt' to the <p> tag that wraps around the excerpt
 */
function add_class_to_excerpt( $excerpt ) {
    return str_replace('<p', '<p class="excerpt"', $excerpt);
}
add_filter( "the_excerpt", "add_class_to_excerpt" );
?>