[php] Truncating Text in PHP?

$mystring = "this is the text I would like to truncate";

// Pass your variable to the function
$mystring = truncate($mystring);

// Truncated tring printed out;
echo $mystring;

//truncate text function
public function truncate($text) {

    //specify number fo characters to shorten by
    $chars = 25;

    $text = $text." ";
    $text = substr($text,0,$chars);
    $text = substr($text,0,strrpos($text,' '));
    $text = $text."...";
    return $text;
}