perlquestion kiat Hi monks,<p> I use the code below to shorten an unusually long topic (hackish, perhaps) so that it doesn't mess the page's layout. <code> my $str = trim_length("thisisaverylongsentencewithoutspacesinbetween", 30); print "$str\n"; sub trim_length { my ($str, $desired_len) = @_; my $tmp_len = $desired_len; # Shorten $str if it's is one continuous string # and its length is greater than the desired length if ($str !~ /\s/ && length($str) > $desired_len) { $str = substr($str, 0, $desired_len); $str .= ' ...'; } # Otherwise, if the length of $str is greater than the # desired length, iterate over each character of in $str # to find an appropriate spot that's a space to chop # the string elsif (length($str) > $desired_len) { #print "here" and exit; $str = substr($str, 0, $desired_len); my $token = substr($str, $desired_len-1, $desired_len); while($token !~ / /) { $str = substr($str, 0, $tmp_len); $token = substr($str, $tmp_len-1, $tmp_len); $tmp_len--; } $str .= '...'; } return $str; } </code> It works (with limited testing) but I'm intersted to find out how you would do it. All comments are welcomed :)<p> Thanks in anticipation :)<p> <b>Update</b>: Thanks to all for your sharing of code :)<p> <b>Update2</b>: I now have a problem of deciding which method to go with but I've undoubtedly learnt new ways of looking at the same problem. Great thanks and cheers