function excerpt($string='', $maxChar=50, $uri='#') {
	$length = strlen($string);
	if ($length < $maxChar) {
		return $string;
	}
	$trimmedString = substr($string, 0, $maxChar);
	$wordsArray = str_word_count($trimmedString, 1);
	array_pop($wordsArray);
	$newString = implode(' ', $wordsArray) . ' <a href="' . $uri . '">more</a>';
	return $newString;
}

public function makeNewsExcerpt($content)
    {
	$content = preg_replace("(\<(/?[^\>]+)\>)", "", $content);
	$content = substr($content, 0, 160);
	$content .= "...";
	return $content;

    }

// add excerpt to pages
add_post_type_support( 'page', 'excerpt' );

/**
* usage: 
* $txt = new($post->post_content, 50, 'Read in full', '<span class="readmore">', '</span>', '<a><span>');
* echo $text->createExcerpt(); 
*
*/


class text{
	
	public $text;
	public $length;
	public $allowedTags;
	public $readMoreText;
	
	//create internal variables from those passed to the class
	function __construct($text = '', 
	$length = 50, 
	$readMoreText = 'Read In Full...', 
	$before = '',
	$after = '',
	$allowedTags = '<a>') {
		
			$this->text  = $text; 
			$this->length = $length; 
			$this->readMoreText = $readMoreText;
			$this->before = $before;
			$this->after = $after;
			$this->allowedTags = $allowedTags;	
		
		}
		
		//shorten text to required length
		public function shortenText() {			
			//explode the string into an array of the length we want
			if (count(explode(' ', $this->text)) > $this->length)
			{
				$textArray = explode(' ', $this->text, $this->length);
				//remove the excess string from the end of the array
				array_pop($textArray);
				//create a string from the array
				$textString = implode(' ', $textArray);
				//cleaning up
				unset($textArray);
				//return
				return $textString . '... ';
			}
			else
			{
				return $this->text;	
			}
		}
		
		//remove tags and other.
		public function cleanText($text){
			//strip the text of html tags, except those we want
			$strippedText = strip_tags($text, $this->allowedTags);
			//remove [] and their content
			$strippedText = preg_replace('`\[[^\]]*\]`','',$strippedText);
			//return
			return $strippedText;			
		}
		
		//create output
		public function createExcerpt(){
			global $post;
			

				//create output
				$output = '';
				$output .= $this->cleanText($this->shortenText());
				if($this->readMoreText !== '') 
				{				
					$output .= $this->before;
					$output .= '  <a href="'.  $post->guid .'" title="'. $this->readMoreText . ': '. $post->post_title .'">'. $this->readMoreText . '</a>';
					$output .= $this->after;
				}
			return $output;	
		}
	
}//end class//

function new_excerpt_length($length) {
return 100;
}
add_filter('excerpt_length', 'new_excerpt_length');

function replace_excerpt($content) {
       return str_replace('[...]',
               '<div class="more-link"><a href="'. get_permalink() .'">Continue Reading</a></div>',
               $content
       );
}
add_filter('the_excerpt', 'replace_excerpt');

<?php
//display all post titles, and if an excerpt exists, show it
$posts=get_posts('post_type=post&amp;showposts=-1');
if ($posts) {
  foreach($posts as $post) {
    setup_postdata($post);
    ?>
    <p><?php the_time('m.d.y') ?> <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title_attribute(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></p>
    <?php
    if ($post->post_excerpt) {
      echo 'excerpt is:' . $post->post_excerpt;
    }
  }
}
?>

<?php if ( is_home() || is_archive()|| is_search() ) : ?>

global $post;

                        $args = array('numberposts' => 3, 'offset'=> 0, 'order'=> 'DESC' );

                        $myposts = get_posts( $args );

                        foreach( $myposts as $post ) : setup_postdata($post);
                            $excerpt = get_the_excerpt();
                            add_theme_support( 'post-thumbnails' );
                            set_post_thumbnail_size( 145, 100, true ); // Normal post thumbnails
                            add_image_size( 'single-post-thumbnail', 400, 9999 ); // Permalink thumbnail size
                        ?>
                        <div class="homepostd">

                            <div class="thumbd">
                                <a title="<?php the_title(); ?>" rel="bookmark" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
                                    <?php 
                                        if(has_post_thumbnail()) {
                                            the_post_thumbnail(array(145,100));
                                        } else {
                                            echo '<img src="'.get_bloginfo("template_url").'/images/img-default.jpg" width="150" height="64" />';
                                        } 
                                    ?>
                                </a>
                            </div>

                            <div class="rightcontpd">
                                <b><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></b>
                                <?php echo string_limit_words($excerpt,10);?><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">[...]</a>
                            </div>

                        </div>

                        <?php endforeach; ?>

remove_filter('get_the_excerpt', 'wp_trim_excerpt');
add_filter('get_the_excerpt', 'custom_trim_excerpt');

function custom_trim_excerpt($text) { // Fakes an excerpt if needed
global $post;
if ( '' == $text ) {
$text = get_the_content('');
$text = apply_filters('the_content', $text);
$text = str_replace(']]>', ']]>', $text);
$text = strip_tags($text);
$excerpt_length = x;
$words = explode(' ', $text, $excerpt_length + 1);
if (count($words) > $excerpt_length) {
array_pop($words);
array_push($words, '...');
$text = implode(' ', $words);
}
}
return $text;
}

function outputExcerpts() {
	
	$result_list = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM wp_posts WHERE post_type='post' AND post_status='publish' ORDER BY post_date DESC");
	if ($myrow_list = mysql_fetch_array($result_list)) {
	    do {
		   $listExcerpts[] = $myrow_list;
	    } while ($myrow_list = mysql_fetch_array($result_list));
	}

	return $listExcerpts;

}

<?php

//this part goes to functions.php

function string_limit_words($string, $word_limit)
{
  $words = explode(' ', $string, ($word_limit + 1));
  if(count($words) > $word_limit) {
  array_pop($words);
  //add a ... at last article when more than limit word count
  echo implode(' ', $words)."..."; } else {
  //otherwise
  echo implode(' ', $words); }
}

//this part goes to template

  $excerpt = get_the_excerpt();
  echo string_limit_words($excerpt,25);

?>

function improved_trim_excerpt($text) {
global $post;
if ( '' == $text ) {
$text = get_the_content('');
$text = apply_filters('the_content', $text);
$text = str_replace(']]>', ']]>', $text);
$text = preg_replace('@<script[^>]*?>.*?</script>@si', '', $text);
$text = strip_tags($text, '<p>');
$excerpt_length = 80;
$words = explode(' ', $text, $excerpt_length + 1);
if (count($words)> $excerpt_length) {
array_pop($words);
array_push($words, '[...]');
$text = implode(' ', $words);
}
}
return $text;
}

remove_filter('get_the_excerpt', 'wp_trim_excerpt');
add_filter('get_the_excerpt', 'improved_trim_excerpt');

<?php if ( is_home() || is_category(array('Kategorie1','Kategorie3','Kategorie5')) || is_author() || is_date() || is_tag() || is_search() ) : // Excerpts nur auf bestimmten Seiten. ?>

//Excerpt - usage - < ?php echo excerpt(15); ? > - remove the spaces between the < and ?
function excerpt($limit) {
 $excerpt = explode(' ', get_the_excerpt(), $limit);
 if (count($excerpt)>=$limit) {
   array_pop($excerpt);
   $excerpt = implode(" ",$excerpt).'...';
 } else {
   $excerpt = implode(" ",$excerpt);
 } 
 $excerpt = preg_replace('`\[[^\]]*\]`','',$excerpt);
 return $excerpt;
}