Truncate string on whole words in .NET C#

Question

I am trying to truncate some long text in C#, but I don't want my string to be cut off part way through a word. Does anyone have a function that I can use to truncate my string at the end of a word?

E.g:

"This was a long string..."

Not:

"This was a long st..."

Answer 1

Try the following. It is pretty rudimentary. Just finds the first space starting at the desired length.

public static string TruncateAtWord(this string value, int length) {
    if (value == null || value.Length < length || value.IndexOf(" ", length) == -1)
        return value;

    return value.Substring(0, value.IndexOf(" ", length));
}

Answer 2

Thanks for your answer Dave. I've tweaked the function a bit and this is what I'm using ... unless there are any more comments ;)

public static string TruncateAtWord(this string input, int length)
{
    if (input == null || input.Length < length)
        return input;
    int iNextSpace = input.LastIndexOf(" ", length, StringComparison.Ordinal);
    return string.Format("{0}…", input.Substring(0, (iNextSpace > 0) ? iNextSpace : length).Trim());
}

Answer 3

My contribution:

public static string TruncateAtWord(string text, int maxCharacters, string trailingStringIfTextCut = "…")
{
    if (text == null || (text = text.Trim()).Length <= maxCharacters) 
      return text;

    int trailLength = trailingStringIfTextCut.StartsWith("&") ? 1 
                                                              : trailingStringIfTextCut.Length; 
    maxCharacters = maxCharacters - trailLength >= 0 ? maxCharacters - trailLength 
                                                     : 0;
    int pos = text.LastIndexOf(" ", maxCharacters);
    if (pos >= 0)
        return text.Substring(0, pos) + trailingStringIfTextCut;

    return string.Empty;
}

This is what I use in my projects, with optional trailing. Text will never exceed the maxCharacters + trailing text length.

Answer 4

If you are using windows forms, in the Graphics.DrawString method, there is an option in StringFormat to specify if the string should be truncated, if it does not fit into the area specified. This will handle adding the ellipsis as necessary.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.drawing.stringtrimming.aspx

Answer 5

This solution works too (takes first 10 words from myString):

String.Join(" ", myString.Split(' ').Take(10))

Answer 6

I took your approach a little further:

public string TruncateAtWord(string value, int length)
{
    if (value == null || value.Trim().Length <= length)
        return value;

    int index = value.Trim().LastIndexOf(" ");

    while ((index + 3) > length)
        index = value.Substring(0, index).Trim().LastIndexOf(" ");

    if (index > 0)
        return value.Substring(0, index) + "...";

    return value.Substring(0, length - 3) + "...";
}

I'm using this to truncate tweets.

Answer 7

Taking into account more than just a blank space separator (e.g. words can be separated by periods followed by newlines, followed by tabs, etc.), and several other edge cases, here is an appropriate extension method:

    public static string GetMaxWords(this string input, int maxWords, string truncateWith = "...", string additionalSeparators = ",-_:")
    {
        int words = 1;
        bool IsSeparator(char c) => Char.IsSeparator(c) || additionalSeparators.Contains(c);

        IEnumerable<char> IterateChars()
        {
            yield return input[0];

            for (int i = 1; i < input.Length; i++)
            {
                if (IsSeparator(input[i]) && !IsSeparator(input[i - 1]))
                    if (words == maxWords)
                    {
                        foreach (char c in truncateWith)
                            yield return c;

                        break;
                    }
                    else
                        words++;

                yield return input[i];
            }
        }

        return !input.IsNullOrEmpty()
            ? new String(IterateChars().ToArray())
            : String.Empty;
    }

Answer 8

simplified, added trunking character option and made it an extension.

    public static string TruncateAtWord(this string value, int maxLength)
    {
        if (value == null || value.Trim().Length <= maxLength)
            return value;

        string ellipse = "...";
        char[] truncateChars = new char[] { ' ', ',' };
        int index = value.Trim().LastIndexOfAny(truncateChars);

        while ((index + ellipse.Length) > maxLength)
            index = value.Substring(0, index).Trim().LastIndexOfAny(truncateChars);

        if (index > 0)
            return value.Substring(0, index) + ellipse;

        return value.Substring(0, maxLength - ellipse.Length) + ellipse;
    }

Answer 9

Heres what i came up with. This is to get the rest of the sentence also in chunks.

public static List<string> SplitTheSentenceAtWord(this string originalString, int length)
    {
        try
        {
            List<string> truncatedStrings = new List<string>();
            if (originalString == null || originalString.Trim().Length <= length)
            {
                truncatedStrings.Add(originalString);
                return truncatedStrings;
            }
            int index = originalString.Trim().LastIndexOf(" ");

            while ((index + 3) > length)
                index = originalString.Substring(0, index).Trim().LastIndexOf(" ");

            if (index > 0)
            {
                string retValue = originalString.Substring(0, index) + "...";
                truncatedStrings.Add(retValue);

                string shortWord2 = originalString;
                if (retValue.EndsWith("..."))
                {
                    shortWord2 = retValue.Replace("...", "");
                }
                shortWord2 = originalString.Substring(shortWord2.Length);

                if (shortWord2.Length > length) //truncate it further
                {
                    List<string> retValues = SplitTheSentenceAtWord(shortWord2.TrimStart(), length);
                    truncatedStrings.AddRange(retValues);
                }
                else
                {
                    truncatedStrings.Add(shortWord2.TrimStart());
                }
                return truncatedStrings;
            }
            var retVal_Last = originalString.Substring(0, length - 3);
            truncatedStrings.Add(retVal_Last + "...");
            if (originalString.Length > length)//truncate it further
            {
                string shortWord3 = originalString;
                if (originalString.EndsWith("..."))
                {
                    shortWord3 = originalString.Replace("...", "");
                }
                shortWord3 = originalString.Substring(retVal_Last.Length);
                List<string> retValues = SplitTheSentenceAtWord(shortWord3.TrimStart(), length);

                truncatedStrings.AddRange(retValues);
            }
            else
            {
                truncatedStrings.Add(retVal_Last + "...");
            }
            return truncatedStrings;
        }
        catch
        {
            return new List<string> { originalString };
        }
    }

Answer 10

I use this

public string Truncate(string content, int length)
    {
        try
        {
            return content.Substring(0,content.IndexOf(" ",length)) + "...";
        }
        catch
        {
            return content;
        }
    }