The i18n operator #

This page is for designers who make template texts translatable. Every interface text a design prints goes through i18n (kernel/common/ezi18noperator.php, which calls ezpI18n::tr()).

Contents #

1. The call
2. Contexts
3. Placeholders
4. Washing
5. Variants

The call #

{'Read more'|i18n( 'design/mytheme/line' )}
{'Read more'|i18n( 'design/mytheme/line', 'Link under a teaser' )}

If no translation exists for the current locale, the source text is shown.

Contexts #

Use one context per area of your design, beginning with design/<theme>/: design/mytheme/pagelayout, design/mytheme/full/article, design/mytheme/forms. The same text in two contexts can have two translations, which matters for short words ("Open" a menu versus "Open" as a state).

Placeholders #

Never build sentences by concatenating translated pieces: word order differs between languages. Put placeholders in the text.

Named, with a hash:

{'%count results for "%query"'|i18n( 'design/mytheme/search',, hash( '%count', $count, '%query', $query|wash ) )}

Numbered, with an array (the kernel's mail templates do this):

{"Collected information from %1"|i18n( "design/standard/content/edit",, array( $collection.object.name|wash ) )}

The empty second parameter skips the comment.

Washing #

• The translated text is not washed by i18n. Wash the values you put into placeholders (as above) when they come from content or the request.
• In an attribute, wash the whole result: title="{'Close'|i18n( 'design/mytheme' )|wash}".

Variants #

The kernel registers three names in the same class:

• i18n: the normal case.
• x18n: takes the extension name as an extra first parameter.
• d18n: an alias of i18n for a variable input, so string extraction tools do not pick it up ({$label|d18n( 'design/mytheme' )}); the text must still exist in the translation file to be translated.

Related pages #

• Translating template strings
• Tutorial: internationalize a theme
• Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.