Can't change excerpt length and more tag

Question

I tried to change the excerpt length and the more tag the way it is described in the codex:

function custom_excerpt_length( $length ) {
    return 10;
}
add_filter( 'excerpt_length', 'custom_excerpt_length', 999 );


function new_excerpt_more( $more ) {
    return '[.....]';
}
add_filter('excerpt_more', 'new_excerpt_more');

this is how I call the excerpt from within the template:

<?php the_excerpt(); ?>

But it still has the same length and more tag as before. How can that be?

Answer 1

excerpt_length filter does not work on manually added filter so you use wp_trim_excerpt function, you can develop code same as following to achieve it.

<?php
if( has_excerpt() ){
    the_excerpt();
} else {
    wp_trim_excerpt();
}
?>

excerpt_more does not work on WordPress version 2.8.x and Older for those versions you have to use following filter.

<?php
function new_excerpt_more( $excerpt ) {
return str_replace( '[...]', '...', $excerpt );
}
add_filter( 'wp_trim_excerpt', 'new_excerpt_more' );
?>