[Tex/LaTex] truncate text from left to right

text manipulation

I simply need to truncate a text string, which is just a sequence of characters without whitespace, therefore the linebreak won't work. I just need to decide the length of the string in centimeter, the rest should be cut.

I found the package trimclip which could do it, but I need a way to do it without the usage of this package (I can still use existing, common packages)

I hope there is another possibility. I found a very nice way to do it if you want to cut the string from the right side. But I need it from the other side.

I will give a short example how my document should look like:

\documentclass{article}
\newcommand\magicCommand[1]{
      ...
}
\begin{document}

\begin{table}[htb]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{l}

\begin{tabular}{|ll|}
\hline

\parbox{50mm}{ \magicCommand{3cm}{veryLongStringWhichIsGoingToLookUglyInMyDocument}} & \parbox{40mm}{ abc }\\

\hline
\end{tabular}

\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\end{table}

\end{document}

The text for the example above should look in the document like:

veryLongStri

\EDIT

Sorry for this long edit, but I am pretty confused. The truncate seems to be buggy somehow (dependent from the string) and as you can see I made some other tests. There are some solutions which seem to work properly. I don't know what problem I had before because some versions only worked outside the tabular environments.

test.tex

\documentclass[10pt]{article}
\usepackage{a4,graphicx}
\usepackage[breakwords]{truncate}

\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{0cm}
\setlength{\evensidemargin}{0cm}
\setlength{\topmargin}{-2.0cm}
\setlength{\textwidth}{16cm}
\setlength{\textheight}{28.65cm}
\setlength{\headsep}{1.0cm}
\setlength{\parindent}{1.0cm}
\newcommand{\singlespace}{\renewcommand{\baselinestretch}{1.0}\small\normalsize}\newcommand{\doublespace}{\renewcommand{\baselinestretch}{1.5}\small\normalsize}
\renewcommand{\floatpagefraction}{0.95}
\renewcommand{\textfraction}{0.05}
\renewcommand{\topfraction}{0.95}
\renewcommand{\bottomfraction}{0.95}

%===new===

\newlength{\stringlen}
\newbox\stringbox
\newcommand{\clipstring}[2][6cm]{%
  \setlength\stringlen{#1}%
  \sbox\stringbox{}%
  \doclipstring#2\doclipstring
}

\makeatletter
\newcommand{\doclipstring}[1]{%
  \ifx#1\doclipstring
    \expandafter\@firstoftwo
  \else
    \expandafter\@secondoftwo
  \fi
  {\unhbox\stringbox}%
  {\check@cliplength{#1}}%
}
\def\check@cliplength#1{%
  \sbox\stringbox{\unhcopy\stringbox #1}
  \ifdim\wd\stringbox>\stringlen
    \expandafter\@firstoftwo
  \else
    \expandafter\@secondoftwo
  \fi
  {\unhbox\stringbox\removetrailing}%
  {\doclipstring}%
}
\def\removetrailing#1\doclipstring{}
\makeatother

%=========

\usepackage{xcolor}
\newcommand\tleft[3][white]{%
  \setbox0=\hbox{\x}%
  \makebox[#2][l]{%
    \ooalign{\mbox{#3}\cr\kern#2\textcolor{#1}{%
      \rule[-\dp0]{\wd0}{\dimexpr\dp0+\ht0}}}}%
}

%=========

\makeatletter
\newcommand\jw[2][2cm]{%
  \leavevmode
  \begingroup
    \setbox0=\hbox{#2}%
    \setbox0=\hbox{%
      \pdfsave
      \pdfliteral{%
        0 \dim@in@bp{-\dp0 } \dim@in@bp{#1} \dim@in@bp{\ht0 + \dp0 }
        re W n}%
        \rlap{\box0 }%
      \pdfrestore
      \hskip#1 %
    }%
    \box0 %
  \endgroup
}
\newcommand\dim@in@bp[1]{%
  \strip@pt\dimexpr(#1) * 800/803\relax
}
\makeatother

%=========


\begin{document}

\pagestyle{empty}
\begin{table}[htb]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{l}
\begin{tabular}{|ll|}
\hline
 \parbox{60mm}{ thoseAreTheVeryLongStringsWeWantToCutOtherwiseTheTableLooksLikeCrap\_bad }& \parbox{80mm}{ 0.031 }\\

 \parbox{60mm}{ \truncate{6cm}{qwfioqoiwefjiuwgwejfmqefiuhSiqwdMwqkdwqmkMqdwmDWmdwklqwdmlDMlkqwlkdMDLWQd} }& \parbox{80mm}{ 2.047 }\\
 \parbox{60mm}{ \truncate{6cm}{qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq\_qqqq} }& \parbox{80mm}{ 2.047 }\\
 \parbox{60mm}{ \truncate{6cm}{aaaaaaaa\_qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq\_qqqq} }& \parbox{80mm}{ 2.047 }\\
 \parbox{60mm}{ \truncate{6cm}{truncate\_qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq\_qqqq} }& \parbox{80mm}{ 2.047 }\\
 \parbox{60mm}{ \truncate{6cm}{thoseAreTheVeryLongStringsWeWantToCutOtherwiseTheTableLooksLikeCrap\_good} }& \parbox{80mm}{ 1.023 }\\

 \parbox{60mm}{ \clipstring{clipstring\_thoseAreTheVeryLongStringsWeWantToCutOtherwiseTheTableLooksLikeCrap} }& \parbox{80mm}{ 1.023 }\\

 \parbox{60mm}{ \tleft{6cm}{tleft\_thoseAreTheVeryLongStringsWeWantToCutOtherwiseTheTableLooksLikeCrap} }& \parbox{80mm}{ 1.023 }\\

 \parbox{60mm}{ \jw[6cm]{jw\_thoseAreTheVeryLongStringsWeWantToCutOtherwiseTheTableLooksLikeCrap} }& \parbox{80mm}{ 1.023 }\\
 \parbox{60mm}{ \jw[6cm]{jw\_qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq\_qqqq} }& \parbox{80mm}{ 1.023 }\\

\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\end{table}

\end{document}

testoutput

enter image description here

pdflatex.log

This is pdfTeXk, Version 3.141592-1.40.3 (Web2C 7.5.6)
 %&-line parsing enabled.
entering extended mode
(./test.tex
LaTeX2e <2005/12/01>
Babel <v3.8h> and hyphenation patterns for english, usenglishmax, dumylang, noh
yphenation, arabic, basque, bulgarian, coptic, welsh, czech, slovak, german, ng
erman, danish, esperanto, spanish, catalan, galician, estonian, farsi, finnish,
 french, greek, monogreek, ancientgreek, croatian, hungarian, interlingua, ibyc
us, indonesian, icelandic, italian, latin, mongolian, dutch, norsk, polish, por
tuguese, pinyin, romanian, russian, slovenian, uppersorbian, serbian, swedish, 
turkish, ukenglish, ukrainian, loaded.
(/usr/share/texmf/tex/latex/base/article.cls
Document Class: article 2005/09/16 v1.4f Standard LaTeX document class
(/usr/share/texmf/tex/latex/base/size10.clo))
(/usr/share/texmf/tex/latex/ntgclass/a4.sty)
(/usr/share/texmf/tex/latex/graphics/graphicx.sty
(/usr/share/texmf/tex/latex/graphics/keyval.sty)
(/usr/share/texmf/tex/latex/graphics/graphics.sty
(/usr/share/texmf/tex/latex/graphics/trig.sty)
(/usr/share/texmf/tex/latex/config/graphics.cfg)
(/usr/share/texmf/tex/latex/pdftex-def/pdftex.def)))
(/usr/share/texmf/tex/latex/ltxmisc/truncate.sty)
(/usr/share/texmf/tex/latex/xcolor/xcolor.sty
(/usr/share/texmf/tex/latex/config/color.cfg)) (./test.aux)
Overfull \hbox (194.49529pt too wide) in paragraph at lines 96--96
[]\OT1/cmr/m/n/10 thoseAreTheVeryLongStringsWeWantToCutOtherwiseTheTableLooksLi
keCrap[]bad 

Overfull \hbox (207.60631pt too wide) detected at line 99
\OT1/cmr/m/n/10 qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq
qqqq[]qqqq 

Overfull \hbox (251.20644pt too wide) detected at line 100
\OT1/cmr/m/n/10 aaaaaaaa[]qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq
qqqqqqqqqqqqqq[]qqqq 

Overfull \hbox (3.02272pt too wide) in paragraph at lines 104--104
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][
]\OT1/cmr/m/n/10 c[]l[]i[]p[]s[]t[]r[]i[]n[]g[][][]t[]h[]o[]s[]e[]A[]r[]e[]T[]h
[]e[]V[]e[]r[]y[]L[]o[]n[]g[]S[]t[]r[]i[]n[]g[]s[] 
! Undefined control sequence.
\\tleft [#1]#2#3->\setbox 0=\hbox {\x 
                                      }\makebox [#2][l]{\ooalign {\mbox {#3}...
l.106 ...antToCutOtherwiseTheTableLooksLikeCrap} }
                                                  & \parbox{80mm}{ 1.023 }\\
? [1{/usr/share/texmf/fonts/map/pdftex/updmap/pdftex.map}] (./test.aux) )</usr/sh
are/texmf/fonts/type1/bluesky/cm/cmr10.pfb>
Output written on test.pdf (1 page, 12123 bytes).
Transcript written on test.log.

Best Answer

Use the truncate package

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[breakwords]{truncate}
\begin{document}
\truncate{3cm}{This text has been~truncated}
\end{document}

The package uses a clever stategy based on hyphenation. But a word of warning, if you just insert long nonsense letter sequences it may have a problem finding a breakpoint. Use sensible text and works very well. Do read the docs. Use texdoc truncate from the command line, is the quickest way.

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] truncate text from right to left

Just for fun, here is another way. While not specified in meaning, I took your length in argument #1 to be the length that remains, rather than the length that is clipped.

THIS ANSWER HAS TWO PARTS: the first answer clips the string mid-character to the specified length; and the second answer clips to the nearest character boundary inside the specified length (while allowing font declarations in the text).

PART 1

The solution relies on the fact that \ldots is wider than any single character. The approach is to recursively strip off letters from the beginning of the sentence, until the result is less wide than the target width. Then, after an \ldots, one takes the prior result (which is just slightly larger than the target width, and sets it in a right-aligned box of the target width. This will make the extra portion of the left-most character overlap the right end of the \ldots. To take care of this small mismatch, the \ldots are again lapped to the left in a white colorbox, to get rid of the overhang.

Finally, the result is re-kerned to the right to bring you to the end of the printed result (this last phase was an EDIT, upon realizing that I left the current position too far to the left.

EDITED to streamline code and remove a pathological case if null argument was passed to \clip.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\newlength\cliplength
\newcommand\clip[2]{\setlength\cliplength{#1}\cliphelper#2\relax\relax}
\def\cliphelper#1#2\relax{%
  \fboxsep 0pt%
  \setbox0=\hbox{#2}%
  \ifdim\wd0>\cliplength%
    \cliphelper#2\relax%
  \else%
    \setbox0=\hbox{#1#2}%
    \ldots\makebox[\cliplength][r]{\box0}%
    \kern-\cliplength\llap{\colorbox{white}{\strut\ldots}}%
    \kern\cliplength%
  \fi%
}
\parindent 0in
\begin{document}
\ldots\rule{1cm}{1pt}

\clip{1cm}{An example sentence.}

\ldots\rule{2cm}{1pt}

\clip{2cm}{An much longer example sentence.}

\ldots\rule{3cm}{1pt}

\clip{3cm}{An much longer example sentence.}

\end{document}

enter image description here

PART 2

The OP later wondered if the clipping could occur at letter boundaries. That problem is actually easier, can be done without xcolor, and requires but a small change in my routine \cliphelper. In this case, once the test string becomes less wide than the target clip width, I just set \ldots and the test string. Here is the MWE which will clip to the closest letter boundary that is at or slightly smaller than the target clipping width:

REEDITED to support font size/shape declaration macros (that don't take arguments).

\documentclass{article}
\newlength\cliplength
\newcommand\clip[2]{%
  \def\savedmacro{}\setlength\cliplength{#1}\cliphelper#2\relax\relax}
\def\cliphelper#1#2\relax{%
  \setbox0=\hbox{\savedmacro#2}%
  \ifdim\wd0>\cliplength% Is length larger than \cliplength?
    \savethemacros{#1}{#2}% If #1 is a macro, save it
    \cliphelper#2\relax% Recursively clip next letter
  \else%
    \ldots\savedmacro#2% Final typeset, once string length below \cliplength
  \fi%
}
\makeatletter
\def\savethemacros#1#2{%
  \ifcat A\noexpand#1\else\ifcat 1\noexpand#1\else% Skip cat11 and cat12
      \protected@edef\savedmacro{\savedmacro#1}% Save the macro
  \fi\fi%
}
\makeatother
\begin{document}
\ldots\rule{1cm}{1pt}\par
\clip{1cm}{An example sentence.}

\ldots\rule{2cm}{1pt}\par
\clip{2cm}{An much longer example sentence.}

\ldots\rule{3cm}{1pt}\par
\clip{3cm}{An much longer example sentence.}

\ldots\rule{1cm}{1pt}\par
\clip{1cm}{An \bfseries\itshape example sentence.\normalfont}

\ldots\rule{2cm}{1pt}\par
\clip{2cm}{An much longer example \bfseries sentence\normalfont.}

\ldots\rule{3cm}{1pt}\par
\clip{3cm}{\large An much \itshape longer example \bfseries\tiny sentence\normalfont.}

\end{document}

enter image description here

[Tex/LaTex] Move textregistered symbol more towards the top right

Is this aesthetically pleasing?

\documentclass[12pt]{book}

\begin{document}
\Huge\bfseries Cambridge IGCSE\raisebox{1ex}{\small{\textregistered}}  %%< adjust 1ex as you like
\end{document}

enter image description here

I have used \raisebox instead of \textsuperscipt so that you can adjust the raise.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] truncate text from right to left

[Tex/LaTex] Move textregistered symbol more towards the top right

Related Question