Dynamic the_excerpt

there is never ‘the only way’ – this is just one possible way to do it.
the above function is closely adapted from the actual code in the ‘wp_trim_excerpt()’ function in the wordpress core files.

as for stripping the html tags – a link to a live site with an example to ilustrate where this function left unwanted tags might help.

it could simply be that your previous function did not use the filter and therefore had no paragraph tags wrapping the excerpt.

hey, i have this code working on a Starker Theme but not it’s not working with a Twenty Ten Theme. Is this possible?

This is also regarding about the function the_excerpt()
Starker Theme: Works fine!
Twenty Ten Theme: It sucks!!!

can anyone help me with this? thanks in advance mates.

@alchymyth

/* THE_EXCERT */
	function the_excerpt_dynamic($length) { // Outputs an excerpt of variable length (in characters)
		global $post;
		$text = $post->post_exerpt;
		if ( '' == $text ) {
			$text = get_the_content('');
			$text = apply_filters('the_content', $text);
			$text = str_replace(']]>', ']]>', $text);
		}
			$text = strip_shortcodes( $text ); // optional, recommended
			$text = strip_tags($text); // use ' $text = strip_tags($text,'<p><a>'); ' to keep some formats; optional

			$output = strlen($text);
			if($output <= $length ) {
				$text = substr($text,0,$length).' <div class="read_more"><a href="'. get_permalink($post->ID) . '" class="read_more_link" > Read More</a></div>';
			}else {
				$text = substr($text,0,$length).' [...]<div class="read_more"><a href="'. get_permalink($post->ID) . '" class="read_more_link" > Read More</a></div>';
			}

		echo apply_filters('the_excerpt',$text);
	}

returns “[…]” if the text is longer or just text if not…