Shortening text in JavaScript without disrupting HTML tags

Other Questions JavaScript
1

I’m using a JavaScript function to shorten strings while keeping HTML anchor tags intact. How can I avoid breaking tags?

function trimStr(inputText, maxChars) {
  if (inputText.length <= maxChars) return inputText;
  let snippet = inputText.substring(0, maxChars);
  snippet = snippet.substring(0, snippet.lastIndexOf(' ')) + '...';
  return snippet;
}
2

hey, try using a dom parser. a neat trick is to traverse text nodes, shorten only the text content, and reassemble the html so tags remain intact. its a bit more work but avoids breaking tags.

3

In my experience, a better approach is to tokenize the input into HTML tags and text segments before working on truncation. I once had a similar issue and solved it by processing each token separately, counting text characters only and making sure to close any open tags after reaching the limit. This method reduces the risk of malformed HTML by treating tags differently than text portions. Although it requires additional logic, the end result maintains the intended structure and avoids breaking any tags.