Open-Ended HTML Tags Closed Automatically?

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I was originally going to ask if there was a function that would close any open tags that a module were to unintentionally/unavoidably produce. But after playing around with an extension I am writing, it appears that this is done automatically; however I would like to call the function, so as to have control over the specific place this happens.

Here is the scenario: I am building a component that uses a substr of the introtext of articles to shorten them for list display. Sometimes there are HTML tags in the text, and often times shortening the introtext cuts in the middle of the tags. As I mentioned it appears that this is done automatically; however I would like to call the function, so as to have control over the specific place this happens. Please confirm for me that I am not just seeing things and help me understand how to call this function. Thanks

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I think Firefox is closing the hanging tags automatically, I do not see the close tags in ie.