Added str::limit and str::limit_words. Unfortunately php doesn't include mb_str_word_count.

laravel/str.php

@@ -98,6 +98,55 @@ class Str {
 		return strlen($value);
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Limit the number of chars in a string
+	 *
+	 * <code>
+	 *		// Limit the characters
+	 *		echo Str::limit_chars('taylor otwell', 3);
+	 * 		results in 'tay...'
+	 * </code>
+	 *
+	 * @param  string  $value
+	 * @param  int     $length
+	 * @param  string  $end
+	 * @return string
+	 */
+	public static function limit($value, $length = 100, $end = '...')
+	{
+		if (static::length($value) <= $length) return $value;
+
+		if (function_exists('mb_substr'))
+		{
+			return mb_substr($value, 0, $length).$end;
+		}
+
+		return substr($value, 0, $length).$end;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Limit the number of words in a string
+	 *
+	 * <code>
+	 *		// Limit the words
+	 *		echo Str::limit_chars('This is a sentence.', 3);
+	 * 		results in 'This is a...'
+	 * </code>
+	 *
+	 * @param  string  $value
+	 * @param  int     $length
+	 * @param  string  $end
+	 * @return string
+	 */
+	public static function limit_words($value, $length = 100, $end = '...')
+	{
+		$count = str_word_count($value,1);
+
+		if ($count <= $length) return $value;
+
+		return implode(' ',array_slice($count,0,$length)).$end;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Convert a string to 7-bit ASCII.
 	 *