from django.utils.encoding import force_unicode

from django.utils.functional import allow_lazy

def truncate_letters(s, num):

    """ truncates a string to a number of letters, similar to truncate_words """

    s = force_unicode(s)

    length = int(num)

    if len(s)>length:

        s = s[:length]

    if not s.endswith('...'):

        s += '...'

    return s

truncate_letters = allow_lazy(truncate_letters, unicode)