How To Limit The Number Of Words Or Characters Shown With SFMC's AMPscript

Ever had a scenario where you were putting a product name or some other kind of dynamic content into a subject line, and you wanted to only show the first X words or characters? Or featuring article content in an email and wanted to include a short blurb with the first X words as a preview? Let's look at how to limit characters (easy with limitations) and whole words (more involved but better control and end user experience). By Characters: Substring() The first and easiest solution is to use th