How can one effectively check and limit the character length within a string in PHP to avoid unnecessary line breaks?

To effectively check and limit the character length within a string in PHP to avoid unnecessary line breaks, you can use the `substr()` function to truncate the string to a specific length. This function takes the string, starting position, and length as parameters and returns the truncated string. By using this function, you can ensure that the string does not exceed the desired character length and prevent unnecessary line breaks.

$string = "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.";
$limitedString = substr($string, 0, 20); // Limiting the string to 20 characters
echo $limitedString;