on the results page, use substr() to shorten the length to the desired number of characters, for example, this would return the first 150 characters:
<?php echo substr(($row_YourRecordset['your_db_column']),0,150); ?>
you can also use this code after it to show ellipses if the string is longer:
<?php if(strlen($row_YourRecordset['your_db_column']) > 150) echo "... "; ?>