freebase - PHP display sentences up to 100 characters -

my php script calls freebase api , outputs paragraph little bit of regex , other parsing magic on , return data variable $paragraph. paragraph made of multiple sentences. want return shorter version of paragraph instead.

i want display first sentence. if less 100 characters i'd display next sentence until @ least 100 characters.

how can this?

you don't need regular expression this. can use strpos() offset of 99 find first period @ or after position 100 - , substr() grab length.

$shortpara = substr($paragraph, 0, strpos($paragraph, '.', 99) + 1); 

you want add bit of checking in case original paragraph less 100 characters, or doesn't end period:

// find first period @ character 100 or greater $breakat = strpos($paragraph, '.', 99); if ($breakat === false) {     // no period @ or after character 100 - use whole paragraph     $shortpara = $paragraph; } else {     // take , including period found     $shortpara = substr($paragraph, 0,  $breakat + 1); }