Displays the excerpt of the current post after applying several filters to it including auto-p formatting which turns double line-breaks into HTML paragraphs. It uses get_the_excerpt() to first generate a trimmed-down version of the full post content should there not be an explicit excerpt for the post.
The trimmed-down version contains a ‘more’ tag at the end which by default is the […] or “hellip” symbol. A user-supplied excerpt is NOT by default given such a symbol. To add it, you must either modify the raw $post->post_excerpt manually in your template before calling the_excerpt(), add a filter for 'get_the_excerpt' with a priority lower than 10, or add a filter for 'wp_trim_excerpt' (comparing the first and second parameter, because a user-supplied excerpt does not get altered in any way by this function).
An auto-generated excerpt will also have all shortcodes and tags removed. It is trimmed down to a word-boundary and the default length is 55 words. For languages in which words are (or can be) described with single characters (ie. East-Asian languages) the word-boundary is actually the character.
Note: If the current post is an attachment, such as in the attachment.php and image.php template loops, then the attachment caption is displayed. Captions do not include the “[…]” text.
Excerpts provide an alternative to the use of the <!--more--> quicktag. Whereas this more tag requires a post author to manually create a ‘split’ in the post contents, which is then used to generate a “read more” link on index pages, the excerpts require, but do not necessarily demand, a post author to supply a ‘teaser’ for the full post contents.
The <!--more--> quicktag requires templates to use the_content() whereas using excerpts requires, and allows, template writers to explicitly choose whether to display full posts (using the_content()) or excerpts (using the_excerpt()).
The choice of whether to display a full post or an excerpt can then be based on factors such as the template used, the type of page, the category of the post, etcetera. In other words, with a <!--more--> quicktag the post author decides what happens, whereas the template writer is in control with excerpts. Moreover, although <!--more--> can be used to create a real split using the $stripteaser parameter, it would be hard and complicated to then differentiate based on characteristics, causing this to become a basically site-wide choice.
Control Excerpt Length using Filters
By default, excerpt length is set to 55 words. To change excerpt length to 20 words using the excerpt_length filter,
add the following code to the functions.php</code file in your theme:
/**
* Filter the except length to 20 words.
*
* @param int $length Excerpt length.
* @return int (Maybe) modified excerpt length.
*/
function wpdocs_custom_excerpt_length( $length ) {
return 20;
}
add_filter( 'excerpt_length', 'wpdocs_custom_excerpt_length', 999 );
when I used this code and enabled debugging mode, the output shows an error!
Modify the [...] string using filters
For versions 2.9 and higher of WordPress
By default, the excerpt “read more” string at the end is set to ‘[…]’. To change the excerpt “read more” string using the excerpt_more filter add the following code to the functions.php file in your theme:
This example implies that there is only one template file being used for both categories and archives, e.g. simply archive.php.
But also that the template shows even other things, so this could simply be index.php.
Default Usage
Displays the post excerpt. Used in templates that provide a form of index, ie. for home, category, tag, archive pages. Not used for single post views. Not meaningful for static pages.
Used as a replacement for the_content() to force excerpts to show within The Loop.
Classic Editor: Add a word counter to the bottom of the ‘Excerpt’ field
This will add a word counter under the ‘Excerpt’ field when creating a new post. Helpful if you would like to limit how long your manually entered excerpt is.
Add this into your functions.php file:
/**
* Use jQuery to add a word counter to the excerpt box
*
* Should attach to all post screens and indicate the number of words just below the #excerpt textarea
*/
function gv_excerpt_word_count_js() {
echo '
<script>jQuery(document).ready(function(){
jQuery("#postexcerpt #excerpt").after("Word Count: <strong><span id=\'excerpt-word-count\'></span></strong>");
jQuery("#excerpt-word-count").html(jQuery("#excerpt").val().split(/\S+\b[\s,\.\'-:;]*/).length - 1);
jQuery("#excerpt").keyup( function() {
jQuery("#excerpt-word-count").html(jQuery("#excerpt").val().split(/\S+\b[\s,\.\'-:;]*/).length - 1);
});
});</script>
';
}
add_action( 'admin_head-post.php', 'gv_excerpt_word_count_js');
add_action( 'admin_head-post-new.php', 'gv_excerpt_word_count_js');
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Control Excerpt Length using Filters
By default, excerpt length is set to 55 words. To change excerpt length to 20 words using the
excerpt_lengthfilter,add the following code to the
functions.php</code file in your theme:Make the “read more” string link to the post:
Place this in a theme’s
functions.phpto make the “read more” link to the postNote: This link will not appear on a new line. To achieve this, modify the CSS for the
.read-moreclass.Modify the
[...]string using filtersFor versions 2.9 and higher of WordPress
By default, the excerpt “read more” string at the end is set to ‘[…]’. To change the excerpt “read more” string using the
excerpt_morefilter add the following code to thefunctions.phpfile in your theme:The phpdoc in the excerpt_length example says “characters” where it should say “words”. FYI!
Simple function that changes the output of the “[…..]” text:
You can change the CSS of “my-class” , to everything you want….like a button or whatever.
Use with Conditional Tags
Replaces
the_content()tag withthe_excerpt()when on archive or category pages.Both the examples below work for versions 1.5 and above.
This example implies that there is only one template file being used for both categories and archives, e.g. simply
archive.php.But also that the template shows even other things, so this could simply be
index.php.How to manually add an excerpt and limit the length:
The safest way to use this filter is checking for
is_admintoo as it may alter in the admin area like the following:Default Usage
Displays the post excerpt. Used in templates that provide a form of index, ie. for home, category, tag, archive pages. Not used for single post views. Not meaningful for static pages.
Used as a replacement for
the_content()to force excerpts to show within The Loop.Easy Way To limit by word
/* already using in Anasite themes */
Note : 15 = 15 Word limit to showing .
I added
To remove default […]
Classic Editor: Add a word counter to the bottom of the ‘Excerpt’ field
This will add a word counter under the ‘Excerpt’ field when creating a new post. Helpful if you would like to limit how long your manually entered excerpt is.
Add this into your
functions.phpfile: