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Why did you create this plugin?

Until now, there were 3 ways to change the word length of the excerpt, by either modifying a core file (formatting.php), or replacing the wp_trim_excerpt filter in your theme's functions.php code, or by using a different plugin (requiring you to edit your theme/templates).

This plugin simply adds a new field setting to the Reading section called Excerpt Length. The value you set limits the number of words displayed when the_excerpt() is called by your theme.

Does it work for WordPress version x.x.x?

This plugin only works in WordPress 2.7 and above. This is due to new API calls that were made available in version 2.7. It will not work in earlier version of WordPress (2.6 and below).

Does this plugin change the formatting of the_excerpt?

No, this plugin has one sole purpose, that is to enable you to change the word length of the excerpt.

Excerpt Suffix

In version 1.1 of Excerpt Length I have added a new field called Excerpt Suffix. This is used to replace the default [...] text that is appended to the excerpt length. You can now used whatever text you like as the suffix.