Limit number of characters with Django Template filter

Question

I am trying to output the first 255 characters of a description on a list of items and am looking for a method to get that.

Example: I have a variable that contains 300

Answer 1

It doesn't exist unfortunately. There are moves to implement it, but it's still in the design stage (well, implemented, but waiting for design decision), as described here.

Patch attached to that ticket contains implementation.