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Truncates a text string to a specified maximum length and appends a suffix if truncation occurs.

Purpose

This function is designed to shorten long text strings to fit within a specified character limit, commonly used for displaying previews, summaries, or fitting text into UI elements with space constraints. It intelligently accounts for the suffix length to ensure the total output doesn't exceed the maximum length.

Source Code

def truncate_text(text: str, max_length: int = 100, suffix: str = "...") -> str:
    """
    Truncate text to maximum length.
    
    Args:
        text: Text to truncate
        max_length: Maximum length
        suffix: Suffix to add if truncated
        
    Returns:
        Truncated text
    """
    if len(text) <= max_length:
        return text
    return text[:max_length - len(suffix)] + suffix

Parameters

Parameter Details

text: The input string to be truncated. Can be any text of any length. No constraints on content or encoding.

max_length: The maximum number of characters allowed in the output string, including the suffix. Must be a positive integer. Default is 100. If the original text length is less than or equal to this value, no truncation occurs.

suffix: The string to append at the end of truncated text to indicate truncation has occurred. Default is '...' (ellipsis). Common alternatives include '…', ' [more]', or custom indicators. The suffix length is subtracted from max_length to determine where to cut the text.

Return Value

Type: str

Returns a string that is either the original text (if its length is <= max_length) or a truncated version. The truncated version will have exactly max_length characters, consisting of the first (max_length - len(suffix)) characters of the original text followed by the suffix. The return type is always str.

Usage Example

# Basic usage with defaults
text = "This is a very long text that needs to be truncated for display purposes"
result = truncate_text(text)
print(result)  # Output: 'This is a very long text that needs to be truncated for display purposes' (if <= 100 chars)

# Truncate with custom max_length
long_text = "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore."
short = truncate_text(long_text, max_length=50)
print(short)  # Output: 'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipi...'

# Custom suffix
result = truncate_text(long_text, max_length=50, suffix=" [read more]")
print(result)  # Output: 'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consect [read more]'

# Text shorter than max_length (no truncation)
short_text = "Hello"
result = truncate_text(short_text, max_length=100)
print(result)  # Output: 'Hello'

Best Practices

• Ensure max_length is greater than the length of the suffix to avoid negative slicing or unexpected results
• Consider using a suffix length of at least 3 characters (like '...') for clear indication of truncation
• Be aware that this function truncates at character boundaries, not word boundaries - consider implementing word-aware truncation for better readability if needed
• For multi-byte character encodings (like emoji or certain Unicode), the function counts characters correctly but may still split multi-byte sequences
• When displaying truncated text in UI, consider providing a way for users to view the full text (tooltip, expand button, etc.)
• If max_length is less than or equal to the suffix length, the result will be just the suffix or potentially empty/malformed

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