Tag: wordpress plugin

How to localize a WordPress plugin?

1. Add the following code to the main plugin .php file:

/*****************************************************************************
    ADD THE LANGUAGE SUPPORT (LOCALIZATION)
******************************************************************************/
function my_action_init()
{   // TEXT DOMAIN
    load_plugin_textdomain('my-text-domain', false, dirname(plugin_basename(__FILE__)));
}
// INIT HOOK
add_action('init', 'my_action_init');

Important: ‘my-text-domain’ should be the same as the plugin name!

2. Put all the translatable text in the plugin inside of a function:

EXAMPLES

<?php echo 'WARNING'; ?>
becomes:
<?php echo __('WARNING', 'my-text-domain'); ?>
or:
<?php _e('WARNING', 'my-text-domain'); ?>

echo "<div class='test'>This is a test</div>";
becomes:
echo "<div class='test'>".__('This is a test','my-text-domain')."</div>";

$sort_txt = 'ascending';
becomes:
$sort_txt = __('ascending', 'my-text-domain');

3. Poedit

Download URL:
https://poedit.net/download

• Run Poedit
• Create an new catalog: file > new
• Fill in the properties of the catalog, see screenshots

• click the Update button to load the translatable text from the plugin source code
• click the Save button to generate / update the .po and .mo files

NOTE:
Make sure the name of the .po file starts with the text domain, so it should be something like:
my-text-domain-nl_NL.po
and NOT just:
nl_NL.po