News
	Latest
	Archive
	Community news

Articles
	C++
	Communities and Content
	Databases
	Editorials
	Emacs
	General
	HTML
	Java
	Notices
	PHP
	XML

Links
	Apache
	C++
	Database
	General
	HTML
	Java
	Javascript
	Linux
	Object oriented programming
	Open source
	Perl
	PHP
	Python
	Ruby
	SOAP
	XML
	Suggest a link

About
	Advertise on zez
	Contribute
	Contact us
	About zez

Internationalization Using PHP and GetText

Author: Luis Argerich (salutia.com)

Publishing date: 14.12.2000 17:53

If you are a web developer using PHP from small web applications to large corporate portals with millions of page views, you may suddenly find that you need your site or application translated to another language. When your company opens www.company.com.br you need your application in Portuguese, then you'll need it in Japanese and so on. You don't have a "translation" problem, you have an internationalization problem.

Translating only implies simple string translation of code, you may do it in a clever way or a painful (very) way scanning all the code and translating strings. This method tends to produce errors (Have you ever seen a site in Spanglish?) and it is not reusable, just a patch. Internationalization defines a strategy to build sites and applications that you can easily translate into other languages. This is the goal of this article.

Enter GNU

GNU has a very good set of tools to produce internationalizable applications called gettext, it was developed with "C" and "C++" applications in mind but is also very easy to use in other languages such as PHP. Gettext is probably installed on your Unix station, try a gettext command like 'gettext' from the command line to see if you have it. If not (rare) download the package from ftp.gnu.org and install it. If you have gettext the next stage is to use it from PHP.

Internationalizing PHP Scripts

To use gettext in your PHP scripts you'll have to modify all your scripts, however this will have to be done only once. The modifications are not very difficult and you'll probably want to build some utility to scan the code and prompt 'want to modify this?' etc... If you don't want to do that, no problem at all. So what do you have to do in your code? Very simple just replace all the "strings" with something like:

print(_("Hello world"));

Yes, you use the very unknown PHP function "underscore", which is an alias to the not-short-to-write "gettext" function. Every string that you may translate sometime will have to be translated. Once you get used to this and see the advantages you'll find that you always write your strings wrapped with the "_" function.

| < 1 > | 2 | 3 | Next page >> | Printer-friendly page |

Comment List

Topic:	Author:	Time:
internationalization using GETTEXT	Suma Abey	13.07.2007 13:13
explain the stepwise procedure to install gettext in windows/mysql platform
RE: internationalization using GETTEXT	Walter Torres	25.03.2009 16:20
> explain the stepwise procedure to install gettext in > windows/mysql platform Sure: http://web.walters-way.com I have a detailed install process. Walter
Use gettext in windowsXP	Hitesh Kanjaria	30.01.2006 08:18
Hi, Can you explain me how to use gettext in window os. Or any tutorial for that.
mo error	jase dixon	21.10.2002 14:49
when i compile the po file to convert it into an mo file i get this error msg "the character set has no portable coded name" however the mo file is still created but when i run the php file no translation takes place . Does anyone know what this type of error is? thanks in advance jas
RE: mo error	ota fred	05.06.2003 12:56
Hello, I have the same problem. Can you tell me if you have resolved it, and how. Thanks > when i compile the po file to convert it into an mo file i > get this error msg > > "the character set has no portable coded name" > > however the mo file is still created but when i run the php > file no translation takes place . Does anyone know what this > type of error is? > > thanks in advance > > jas
xgettext	Rakesh Shroingi	30.04.2002 14:31
xgettext -a langtest.php While using xgettext i am getting the following error. warning: file `langtest.php' extension `php' is unknown; will try C My php is having the gettext option enabled. Please help. Thanks
RE: xgettext	Jose Cortina	07.06.2002 09:51
I had the same problem, and finally found the way out... Try with: xgettext -C script.php -o messages.po --keyword=_ (The keyword "_" is because I use the short form of gettext in php _("My Text") instead of gettext("My Text") ) If you don't specify the keyword, then it will get all strings from your script... (it gets messy) Hope this helps.
gettext and here docs?	Colin Viebrock	31.07.2001 00:45
Imagine this php script: <?php echo _( <<< EOF It's a great day! EOF ); ?> When I run "xgettext file.php" on it, I get warnings about "unterminated character constant" ... which I assume is the single quote in "it's". Is there a way around this? Also, how do I tell xgettext to only look for strings inside _( ... ) blocks? - Colin
How to produce .mo file	harvail singh	05.03.2001 06:31
What ia m doing is After writng .php file i run xgettext -a command to get the po file After this i run i msgfmt file.po -o fil1.mo but this command is not producing .mo file any help will be appreciated
Common problem	Luis Argerich	26.01.2001 16:50
If you get that message you don't have the gettext extension compiled into php, add the following string... --with-gettext To your configuration script or ./configure command line. Luis.
RE: Common problem	W L	01.11.2001 12:13
> If you get that message you don't have the gettext extension > compiled into php, add the following string... > > --with-gettext > > To your configuration script or ./configure command line. > > Luis. So does that mean we enter the following code in command prompt? ./configure --with-gettext coz I did that and it still doesn't work.
Hmmm	Urban Weigl	14.12.2000 21:38
I don't think I'm sure I know what you mean... ?
RE: Hmmm	Paul Kenneth Egell-Johnsen	15.12.2000 11:28
The problem with that is that I don't have any idea at all with what your problem might be:) I'd love to help out (and probably Luis as well), but you need to be much more specific in describing what you have problem with understanding. I'm looking forward to that clarification and the opportunity to help you.
RE: Hmmm	W L	07.11.2001 04:54
> The problem with that is that I don't have any idea at all > with what your problem might be:) > > I'd love to help out (and probably Luis as well), but you > need to be much more specific in describing what you have > problem with understanding. > > I'm looking forward to that clarification and the > opportunity to help you. I have PHP installed but it's pointing gettext=/usr how do i change that to gettext=/usr/bin? What do I have to type in the command prompt?
RE: Hmmm	nobody important	29.08.2007 00:14
> > The problem with that is that I don't have any idea at > all > > with what your problem might be:) > > > > I'd love to help out (and probably Luis as well), but > you > > need to be much more specific in describing what you > have > > problem with understanding. > > > > I'm looking forward to that clarification and the > > opportunity to help you. > > I have PHP installed but it's pointing gettext=/usr > > how do i change that to gettext=/usr/bin? > > What do I have to type in the command prompt? I just compiled the so file ./configure --with-gettext=shared and then copied the .so file in $PHP_BUILD_DIR/modules/gettext.so to the folder pointed at in the line extensions_dir=/some/dir in php.ini (on my machine it was /usr/local/lib/php/modules), and then added the following line to php.ini extension=gettext.so Pretty much the same thing for every shared library I didn't compile when I first compiled PHP. Just make sure that the version you're building from is the same as your current PHP build.
	harvail singh	02.01.2001 07:17
hi I ahve a problem Using gettext() or its alias _ It gives error Call to undefined function: gettext() in /home/httpd/html/testing/hello.php on line 10 I am using php 4.0.3pl1 can u help thanx