Show only the beginning of post

Question

I know this is normally an obvious question with a lot of answers (like here), but I'd like to show only the beginning of the posts with a "read more" button. I don't use excerpts, so I'd like Wordpress to automaticly grab the first 55 words or the first phrase to display it.

I use the theme Toivo Lite. The index.php is:

<?php
get_header(); ?>

<?php if ( have_posts() ) : ?>

    <?php do_action( 'toivo_before_loop' ); // Action hook before loop. ?>

    <?php /* Start the Loop */ ?>
    <?php while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>

        <?php
            /* Include the Post-Format-specific template for the content.
             * If you want to override this in a child theme, then include a file
             * called content-___.php (where ___ is the Post Format name) and that will be used instead.
             */
            get_template_part( 'content', ( post_type_supports( get_post_type(), 'post-formats' ) ? get_post_format() : get_post_type() ) );
        ?>

    <?php endwhile; ?>

    <?php
        the_posts_pagination( array(
            'prev_text'          => __( 'Previous page', 'toivo-lite' ),
            'next_text'          => __( 'Next page', 'toivo-lite' ),
            'before_page_number' => '<span class="meta-nav screen-reader-text">' . __( 'Page', 'toivo-lite' ) . ' </span>',
        ) );
    ?>

<?php else : ?>

    <?php get_template_part( 'content', 'none' ); ?>

<?php endif; ?>

<?php do_action( 'toivo_after_loop' ); // Action hook after loop. ?>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

I've tried to replace the two content by excerpt, but then the page is empty (only header and foot).

Answer 1

Try replacing this:

        <?php
            /* Include the Post-Format-specific template for the content.
             * If you want to override this in a child theme, then include a file
             * called content-___.php (where ___ is the Post Format name) and that will be used instead.
             */
            get_template_part( 'content', ( post_type_supports( get_post_type(), 'post-formats' ) ? get_post_format() : get_post_type() ) );
        ?>

With this:

<?php echo my_excerpt(get_the_ID(), 300, 'Read More'); ?>

And then add this to your functions.php file:

function my_excerpt($postid, $len = 500, $more = false) {

    $excerpt = apply_filters('the_excerpt', get_post_field('post_excerpt', $postid));

    if(empty($excerpt)) $excerpt = strip_shortcodes(strip_tags(apply_filters('the_excerpt', get_post_field('post_content', $postid))));

    if(strlen($excerpt) > $len) $excerpt = substr($excerpt, 0, $len-3) . '…';

    if($more) $excerpt .= '<a class="read-more" href="' . get_the_permalink($postid) . '">' . $more . '</a>';

    return $excerpt;
}

By default that will return the first 300 characters of the post content. Change the "300" in the my_excerpt call to whatever number of characters you want to return (note, this is not how many words to return, but how many characters).

Answer 2

You can try the below:

    <?php
    get_header(); ?>

    <?php if ( have_posts() ) : ?>

        <?php do_action( 'toivo_before_loop' ); // Action hook before loop. ?>

        <?php /* Start the Loop */ ?>
        <?php while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>

            <?php
            /* Include the Post-Format-specific template for the content.
            * If you want to override this in a child theme, then include a file
            * called content-___.php (where ___ is the Post Format name) and that will be used instead.
            */
            echo wp_trim_words( get_the_content(), $num_words = 50, $more = '...' );
            echo '<a href="'.get_the_permalink().'">Read More</a>';
            ?>

        <?php endwhile; ?>

        <?php
        the_posts_pagination( array(
        'prev_text'          => __( 'Previous page', 'toivo-lite' ),
        'next_text'          => __( 'Next page', 'toivo-lite' ),
        'before_page_number' => '<span class="meta-nav screen-reader-text">' . __( 'Page', 'toivo-lite' ) . ' </span>',
        ) );
        ?>

    <?php else : ?>

        <?php get_template_part( 'content', 'none' ); ?>

    <?php endif; ?>

    <?php do_action( 'toivo_after_loop' ); // Action hook after loop. ?>

    <?php get_footer(); ?>

I have replaced:

    get_template_part( 'content', ( post_type_supports( get_post_type(), 'post-formats' ) ? get_post_format() : get_post_type() ) );

With:

    wp_trim_words( the_content(), $num_words = 50, $more = '...' );

Someone might tell me this is the wrong approach, but it might help you. It will display the first 50 words of the content with a "..." following it.