Title: Hi, I found this strange strings: %1$s%2… Author: pavelevap Published: December 12, 2010 --- [ ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/pavelevap/) [pavelevap](https://profiles.wordpress.org/pavelevap/) 6:13 pm _on_ December 12, 2010   # Hi, I found this strange strings: %1$s%2… Hi, I found this strange stringsString A string is a translatable part of the software. A translation consists of a multitude of localized strings.: %1$s%2$s|akismet_rightnow and %1$s %2$s|akismet_rightnow. It should be as it is or is there any need to translate it somehow? Also |akismet_rightnow should be as it is? ### Share this: * [ Threads ](https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2010/12/12/hi-i-found-this-strange-strings-1s2/?share=threads) * [ Bluesky ](https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2010/12/12/hi-i-found-this-strange-strings-1s2/?share=bluesky) * [ Facebook ](https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2010/12/12/hi-i-found-this-strange-strings-1s2/?share=facebook) * [ X ](https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2010/12/12/hi-i-found-this-strange-strings-1s2/?share=x) * [ Mastodon ](https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2010/12/12/hi-i-found-this-strange-strings-1s2/?share=mastodon) * [ WhatsApp ](https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2010/12/12/hi-i-found-this-strange-strings-1s2/?share=jetpack-whatsapp) * [ LinkedIn ](https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2010/12/12/hi-i-found-this-strange-strings-1s2/?share=linkedin) * [Login to Reply](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fmake.wordpress.org%2Fpolyglots%2F2010%2F12%2F12%2Fhi-i-found-this-strange-strings-1s2%2F%23respond&locale=en_US) * [To-do](https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2010/12/12/hi-i-found-this-strange-strings-1s2/?output_format=md#) 1. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/34368b9c92a4bfa3bd2a84a222147375526d5ccfbbb3afe32abfbd1bc37f5b58? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 2. [Peter Westwood](http://westi.wordpress.com/) 6:19 pm _on_ December 12, 2010 3. That comes from this piece of code: 4. // _c was deprecated in WP 2.9.0 if ( function_exists( ‘_x’ ) ) $text = sprintf( _x( ‘%1$s%2$s’, ‘akismet_rightnow’ ), $intro, $queue_text ); else $text = sprintf( _c( ‘%1$s%2$s|akismet_rightnow’ ), $intro, $queue_text ); 5. You should translate the text before the “|” and leave the text after it – it is the old way of providing context to a translatable stringString A string is a translatable part of the software. A translation consists of a multitude of localized strings. before we started using the native gettext context. 6. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/ea098712583c160c0f16a813f0455179f08d61e222303221f13bcb7eea9a15ee? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 7. [Milan Dinić](http://milandinic.com/) 6:43 pm _on_ December 12, 2010 8. To better understand what this mean, here is a complete snippet from source code: 9. ```notranslate if ( $count = get_option('akismet_spam_count') ) { $intro = sprintf( $plural_func( '<a href="%1$s">Akismet</a> has protected your site from %2$s spam comment already,', '<a href="%1$s">Akismet</a> has protected your site from %2$s spam comments already,', $count ), 'http://akismet.com/', number_format_i18n( $count ) ); } else { $intro = sprintf( __('<a href="%1$s">Akismet</a> blocks spam from getting to your blog,'), 'http://akismet.com/' ); } if ( $queue_count = akismet_spam_count() ) { $queue_text = sprintf( $plural_func( 'and there's <a href="%2$s">%1$s comment</a> in your spam queue right now.', 'and there are <a href="%2$s">%1$s comments</a> in your spam queue right now.', $queue_count ), number_format_i18n( $queue_count ), $esc_url($link) ); } else { $queue_text = sprintf( __( " but there's nothing in your <a href='%1$s'>spam queue</a> at the moment." ), $esc_url($link) ); } // _c was deprecated in WP 2.9.0 if ( function_exists( '_x' ) ) $text = sprintf( _x( '%1$s%2$s', 'akismet_rightnow' ), $intro, $queue_text ); else $text = sprintf( _c( '%1$s%2$s|akismet_rightnow' ), $intro, $queue_text ); echo "<p class='akismet-right-now'>$text</p>n"; ``` 10. In short, this is a very bad part for translation and I already planned to submit patch that would split this to two sentences since there are already stringsString A string is a translatable part of the software. A translation consists of a multitude of localized strings. outside gettext functions which needs to be fixed before 3.1. 11. * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e9c160c54509c9693d8981cd8d36aeefc6c9c95cbd9885822108a2992b7fac9d? s=32&d=mm&r=g) * pavelevap 7:22 pm _on_ December 12, 2010 * Thank you, I also was not sure what variables %1$s and %2$s really represents? $intro and $queue_text? But these stringsString A string is a translatable part of the software. A translation consists of a multitude of localized strings. are translated separately? - ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/ea098712583c160c0f16a813f0455179f08d61e222303221f13bcb7eea9a15ee? s=32&d=mm&r=g) - [Milan Dinić](http://milandinic.com/) 7:45 pm _on_ December 12, 2010 - Yes, but take care about space between two. * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e9c160c54509c9693d8981cd8d36aeefc6c9c95cbd9885822108a2992b7fac9d? s=32&d=mm&r=g) * pavelevap 7:53 pm _on_ December 12, 2010 * Yes, but there are two stringsString A string is a translatable part of the software. A translation consists of a multitude of localized strings., one with spaces and second without spaces. Why? So, probably there is no need to “translate” these strings and I can let them as they are? - ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/ea098712583c160c0f16a813f0455179f08d61e222303221f13bcb7eea9a15ee? s=32&d=mm&r=g) - [Milan Dinić](http://milandinic.com/) 8:04 pm _on_ December 12, 2010 - It was more logical before for European languages but [this ticket](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/1212) changed that. - This definitely needs to be changed since it doesn’t make any sense in (probably) any language other than English. * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/ea098712583c160c0f16a813f0455179f08d61e222303221f13bcb7eea9a15ee? s=32&d=mm&r=g) * [Milan Dinić](http://milandinic.com/) 8:44 pm _on_ December 13, 2010 * OK, [here](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/1248) is the ticket with all i18nInternationalization Internationalization (sometimes shortened to ** I18N** , meaning “I - eighteen letters -N”) is the process of planning and implementing products and services so that they can easily be adapted to specific local languages and cultures, a process called localization. This is the process of making software translatable. Information about Internationalization for developers can be found in the [Developer’s handbooks](https://developer.wordpress.org/). issues I found in Akismet. If you find any more, write it here. - ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/3bf6b820a2a3ece97de9c93a92eb8ead9149a5ef9a6c46ee70f39fdce815b984? s=32&d=mm&r=g) - [Alex](http://flightpathblog.com/) 6:49 am _on_ December 15, 2010 - There’s a followup patch to your ticket, can you confirm if it fixes the problems please? * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/ea098712583c160c0f16a813f0455179f08d61e222303221f13bcb7eea9a15ee? s=32&d=mm&r=g) * [Milan Dinić](http://milandinic.com/) 10:07 pm _on_ December 15, 2010 * I posted a reply over there. Email notification on TracTrac Trac is the place where contributors create issues for bugs or feature requests much like GitHub.[https://core.trac.wordpress.org/](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/). doesn’t work so I didn’t see reply before. - ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b08b3ac375d3b073a7de49cab22f621e759f0aadf4a5157a5ec36ffb71f52a67? s=32&d=mm&r=g) - [Joseph Scott](http://josephscott.org/) 8:43 am _on_ December 16, 2010 - I’ve committed this new patch with a couple of exceptions. * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/ea098712583c160c0f16a813f0455179f08d61e222303221f13bcb7eea9a15ee? s=32&d=mm&r=g) * [Milan Dinić](http://milandinic.com/) 10:56 am _on_ December 16, 2010 * Thank you for your fast responses. As far as I can see, your exceptions were widgets titles. Can I know why? * Also, since now WP’s trunk points to Akismet’s 2.5 tag, and since you patched dev branch, will this be WP 3.1 or only in next Akismet version? - ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b08b3ac375d3b073a7de49cab22f621e759f0aadf4a5157a5ec36ffb71f52a67? s=32&d=mm&r=g) - [Joseph Scott](http://josephscott.org/) 5:59 pm _on_ December 16, 2010 - Where the only item in the stringString A string is a translatable part of the software. A translation consists of a multitude of localized strings. was ‘Akismet’ it didn’t make sense to indicate that needed a translation, since it doesn’t. - Our intention is get Aksimet 2.5.1 out soon and make that the version that ships with WP3.1. 12. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/ea098712583c160c0f16a813f0455179f08d61e222303221f13bcb7eea9a15ee? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 13. [Milan Dinić](http://milandinic.com/) 11:20 pm _on_ December 16, 2010 14. But [there is](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/akismet/dev/admin.php#L383) stringString A string is a translatable part of the software. A translation consists of a multitude of localized strings. that only contains “Akismet”. 15. Does this means that we should leave Akismet in original form and not, for example, transcribe it to our language (as I do to Cyrillic — Акисмет)? 16. * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/ea098712583c160c0f16a813f0455179f08d61e222303221f13bcb7eea9a15ee? s=32&d=mm&r=g) * [Milan Dinić](http://milandinic.com/) 11:21 pm _on_ December 16, 2010 * Oops, this supposed to be reply to [Joseph’s comment](https://wppolyglots.wordpress.com/2010/12/12/hi-i-found-this-strange-strings-1s2/#comment-822). ### Leave a Reply 󠀁[Cancel reply](https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2010/12/12/hi-i-found-this-strange-strings-1s2/?output_format=md#respond)󠁿 You must be [logged in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fmake.wordpress.org%2Fpolyglots%2F2010%2F12%2F12%2Fhi-i-found-this-strange-strings-1s2%2F&locale=en_US) to post a comment. # Post navigation [← I want to use WordPress for Android in k…](https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2010/12/12/i-want-to-use-wordpress-for-android-in-k/) [Bengali localization of WordPress →](https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2010/12/12/bengali-localization-of-wordpress/)