$words= "If length is given and is negative,
then that many characters will be omitted from
the end of string (after the start position has
been calculated when a start is negative). If start
denotes a position beyond this truncation, an empty
string will be returned. ";
echo substr($words, 0, 50).".......";
?>
I have been using this but how can I make sure I do not split a word in
half? - Finishing on a <space> would probably do it.
You could use wordwrap() to wrap lines at 50 characters and then just take the first line....
http://us3.php.net/wordwrap
-philip