load_textdomain()
Load a .mo file into the text domain $domain.
If the text domain already exists, the translations will be merged. If both sets have the same string, the translation from the original value will be taken.
On success, the .mo file will be placed in the $l10n global by $domain and will be a MO object.
Hooks from the function
Return
true|false
. True on success, false on failure.
Usage
load_textdomain( $domain, $mofile, $locale );
- $domain(string) (required)
- Text domain. Unique identifier for retrieving translated strings.
- $mofile(string) (required)
- Path to the .mo file.
- $locale(string)
- Locale.
Default: current locale
Examples
#1 Line translation in WordPress
In this example, translate the string __( 'book', 'mydomain' ). It is assumed that a .mo
file has already been created and has the data to translate this string:
// here the .mo file must be in the `lang` folder, which is in // the folder that contains the file in which this (string - code) is called. // Connect the existing .mo file (file name: ru_RU.mo or other, depending on the locale) add_action( 'plugins_loaded', 'load_my_textdomain' ); function load_my_textdomain(){ $mo_file_path = dirname(__FILE__) . '/lang/'. determine_locale() . '.mo'; load_textdomain( 'mydomain', $mo_file_path ); }
For WP versions earlier than 5.0, use get_locale() instead of determine_locale().
Now in the theme we use:
<?php _e( 'book', 'mydomain' ); ?>
The "βιβλίο" will come out for Greek locale.
#2 Load translation which is different from the current user locale.
There are situations where one requires a plugin translation locale to be loaded which is different from the current user locale.
For example, in multilingual websites, creating a translation of a post/widget may require some translations to be loaded for a given plugin text domain. The user locale (dashboard locale) is loaded by default, so it is important to unload that if it has been loaded already and seek the translation file to load for the text domain for the requested locale,
if ( is_textdomain_loaded( $plugin ) ) { unload_textdomain( $plugin ); } $mofile = sprintf( '%s-%s.mo', $plugin, $locale ); // check the installation language path first. $domain_path = path_join( WP_LANG_DIR, 'plugins' ); $loaded = load_textdomain( $plugin, path_join( $domain_path, $mofile ) ); // else, check the plugin language folder. if ( ! $loaded ) { $domain_path = path_join( WP_PLUGIN_DIR, "{$plugin}/languages" ); load_textdomain( $plugin, path_join( $domain_path, $mofile ) ); }
Notes
- Global. MO[]. $l10n An array of all currently loaded text domains.
- Global. MO[]. $l10n_unloaded An array of all text domains that have been unloaded again.
- Global. WP_Textdomain_Registry. $wp_textdomain_registry WordPress Textdomain Registry.
Changelog
Since 1.5.0 | Introduced. |
Since 6.1.0 | Added the $locale parameter. |