Get excerpt of entry from search query

Question

If I enter a query into the search bar I would like to see an excerpt (let's say 140 characters) of each entry that is related to the query.

Here is what I use on the search result page to display the results.

{% set query = craft.request.getParam('q') %}
{% set entries = craft.entries.search(query).order('score') %}

{% if entries|length %}
<p>{{ entries|length }} results:</p>

<ul>
    {% for entry in entries %}
        <li><a href="{{ entry.url }}">{{ entry.title }}</a></li>
    {% endfor %}
</ul>
{% else %}
<p>Your search for “{{ query }}” didn’t return any results.</p>
{% endif %}

How do I add entry excerpts like: https://craftcms.com/search?q=entry

Answer 1

Looking at the Happy Lager demo site there's a Short Description field, which functions as an excerpt for indexes and search results. I imagine P&T use something similar for the Craft docs.

You could also force your results onto one line and trim it with css, which is how P&T do it on the Craft docs search results page:

li { overflow: hidden; white-space: nowrap; text-overflow: ellipsis; }

Answer 2

Have a look at the slice filter. To return 140 characters max. you would do something like this:

{% if entry.body %}
    {{ entry.body|slice(0, 140) }}
{% endif %}

See this other question on a similar topic if you want to apply this on a rich text field. Because this solution only works with plain text.

Answer 3

I use Trimmer for this, it's pretty much the only plugin I use these days.

I don't know for sure, but I suspect P&T may use an 'excerpt' field to store a short sentence for use on the search results page, rather than cropping from longer copy.