Limiting Characters without cutting a word in half

The code actually is:

<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"> <?php echo substr(get_the_title(), 0, 35); if(strlen(get_the_title()) > 20) echo ' ...'; ?></a>

Sorry!

Try re-posting your code – using the code button this time. It’s totally managed in your original post.

here it is again! Sorry, I put the code brackets in wrong.

<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"> <?php echo substr(get_the_title(), 0, 35); if(strlen(get_the_title()) > 20) echo ' ...'; ?></a>

You can try:

$the_title = get_the_title();
if ( mb_strlen( $the_title, 'utf8' ) > 35 ) {
   $last_space = strrpos( substr( $the_title, 0, 35 ), ' ' ); // find the last space within 35 characters
   $the_title = substr( $the_title, 0, $last_space ) . '...';
}
<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php echo $the_title; ?></a>