Magento resize string length

<?php
$string  = "Truncates a string at a certain position without cutting words into senseless pieces.";
    $maxlength = 60;
    $extension = " ...";
    //echo strlen($string);
    //echo "<br/>";
    function truncate_string ($string, $maxlength, $extension) {
        // Set the replacement for the "string break" in the wordwrap function
        $cutmarker = "**cut_here**";
        // Checking if the given string is longer than $maxlength
        if (strlen($string) > $maxlength) {
            // Using wordwrap() to set the cutmarker
            // NOTE: wordwrap (PHP 4 >= 4.0.2, PHP 5)
            $string = wordwrap($string, $maxlength, $cutmarker);
            //echo $string."<br/>";
            // Exploding the string at the cutmarker, set by wordwrap()
            $string = explode($cutmarker, $string);
            //echo $string."<br/>";
            // Adding $extension to the first value of the array $string, returned by explode()
            $string = $string[0] . $extension;
            //echo $string."<br/>";
        }

        // returning $string
        return $string;
    }
    // This Will output:
    // "Truncates a string at a certain position without ?cutting? ..."
    //echo truncate_string ($string, $maxlength, $extension);
    //echo "<br/>";
    //echo truncate_string ($namestring, $maxlength, $extension);
?>