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Using the Translator to translate wordings

This section provides an quick reference on how to use the Translator. For more information, read Symfony’s documentation on Using the Translator.

PHP files

To translate wordings in PHP files, you first need an instance of the Translator service (explained below). Then, you can use the trans() method to translate your wording:

<?php
echo $translator->trans('This product is no longer available.', [], 'Shop.Notifications.Error');

The trans() method takes three arguments:

  1. $id – The wording you want to translate. Keep in mind that it has to be exactly the same as the one in the default catalogue, or the translation won’t work.
  2. $parameters – An array of replacements, if any. (Learn more about translation placeholders).
  3. $domain – The [translation domain][translation-domains] for that wording.
Be aware that in Symfony-based Admin controllers, the second and third arguments have been swapped in order to allow $replacements to be optional. For more, see FrameworkBundleAdminController.

Inside controllers

Controllers include a helper method named trans() that calls the translator internally:

<?php
// legacy controllers
$this->trans('This product is no longer available.', [], 'Shop.Notifications.Error');

// Symfony-based controllers (FrameworkBundleAdminController)
$this->trans('This product is no longer available.', 'Shop.Notifications.Error', []);

Outside controllers

If you are outside a controller, and after careful consideration you think you absolutely need some stuff translated, then you can add it as a dependency of your class:

<?php
// SomeService.php

namespace PrestaShop\PrestaShop\Core\Foo\Bar;

use Symfony\Component\Translation\TranslatorInterface;

class SomeService
{
    private $translator;

    public function __construct(TranslatorInterface $translator)
    {
        $this->translator = $translator;
    }
}

Then, inject it into your service using the Dependency Container:

# services.yml

prestashop.core.foo.bar.some_service:
    class: 'PrestaShop\PrestaShop\Core\Foo\Bar\SomeService'
    arguments:
        - '@translator'

And finally, use the translator at will:

<?php
// SomeService.php

$this->translator->trans('This product is no longer available.', [], 'Shop.Notifications.Error');

Smarty templates

In .tpl files, use the l (lower case “L”) macro:

<div>{l s='This product is no longer available.' d='Shop.Notifications.Error'}</div>

If you have have replacements to peform in your wording, then there are two options:

  1. Anonymous placeholders (eg. %s)

    <div>{l s='List of products by supplier %s' sprintf=[$supplier.name] d='Shop.Theme.Catalog'}</div>

  2. Named placeholders (eg. %my_placeholder%)

    <div>{l s='There are %products_count% items in your cart.' sprintf=['%products_count%' => $cart.products_count] d='Shop.Theme.Checkout'}</div>

Note: The l macro does not support escaping the strings for javascript. Instead you can assign the translation to a variable and escape it afterwards:

{assign var='translatedString' value={l s='Text containing single quote' d='Modules.Mymodule.Shop'}}
<script>var text='{$translatedString|escape:'javascript'}';</script>

Twig templates

In .twig files, you can use the trans filter from Twig:

<div>{{ 'This product is no longer available.'|trans({}, 'Shop.Notifications.Error') }}</div>

You can also use named placeholders:

<div>{{ 'There are %products_count% items in your cart.'|trans({'%products_count%': cart.products_count}, 'Shop.Theme.Checkout') }}</div>
For information on more advanced Twig translation features, head on to the Symfony translator component’s documentation.