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// Recent Excerpts
function recentexcerpts_shortcode($atts) {
	global $a; //Make attributes accessible by child functions

	// Default attributes
	$a = shortcode_atts(array(
        'count'		=> 5,
        'length'	=> 55,
        'cat'		=> null,
        'showdate'	=> true,
        'dateformat'=> 'j M Y'
    ), $atts);

	//Set custom excerpt length
    function custom_excerpt_length($length) { global $a; return $a['length']; }
	add_filter( 'excerpt_length', 'custom_excerpt_length', 999 );

    // Populate arguments for query
	$q = new WP_Query(array(
		'posts_per_page'	=> $a['count'],
		'cat'				=> $a['cat']
	));

	// If posts are found...
	if ($q->have_posts()) {

		//Display before the loop
		$d = "<ul>\n";

		//The loop
		while ($q->have_posts()) { $q->the_post();
	    	$d .= "<li class=\"cat-post-item\">\n";
	    	$d .= "<a class=\"post-title\" rel=\"bookmark\" href=\"". get_the_permalink() ."\" title=\"" . get_the_title() . "\">" . get_the_title() . "</a>\n";
	    	if ($a['showdate'] == true) { $d .= "<p class=\"post-date\">" . get_the_date($a['dateformat']) . "</p>\n"; };
	    	$d .= "<p>" . get_the_excerpt() . "</p>\n";
	    	$d .= "</li>\n";
		}

		//Display after the loop
		$d .= "</ul>\n";

		wp_reset_postdata(); //Reset postdata
	} else { $d = "<p>No posts at the moment.</p>\n"; }; // Display this if no posts are found
	remove_filter( 'excerpt_length', 'custom_excerpt_length', 999 ); // Remove custom excerpt length filter
	return $d; // Return the results
}
add_shortcode('recent_excerpts', 'recentexcerpts_shortcode'); // Register shortcode
add_filter('widget_text', 'do_shortcode'); // Make widgets do shortcodes