+ +
+

Language Class

+

The Language Class provides functions to retrieve language files and +lines of text for purposes of internationalization.

+

In your CodeIgniter system folder, you will find a language sub-directory +containing a set of language files for the english idiom. +The files in this directory (system/language/english/) define the regular messages, +error messages, and other generally output terms or expressions, for the different parts +of the CodeIgniter framework.

+

You can create or incorporate your own language files, as needed, in order to provide +application-specific error and other messages, or to provide translations of the core +messages into other languages. These translations or additional messages would go inside +your application/language/ directory, with separate sub-directories for each idiom +(for instance, ‘french’ or ‘german’).

+

The CodeIgniter framework comes with a set of language files for the “english” idiom. +Additional approved translations for different idioms may be found in the +CodeIgniter 3 Translations repositories. +Each repository deals with a single idiom.

+

When CodeIgniter loads language files, it will load the one in system/language/ +first and will then look for an override in your application/language/ directory.

+
+

Note

+

Each language should be stored in its own folder. For example, +the English files are located at: system/language/english

+
+ +
+

Handling Multiple Languages

+

If you want to support multiple languages in your application, you would provide folders inside +your application/language/ directory for each of them, and you would specify the default +language in your application/config/config.php.

+

The application/language/english/ directory would contain any additional language files +needed by your application, for instance for error messages.

+

Each of the other idiom-specific directories would contain the core language files that you +obtained from the translations repositories, or that you translated yourself, as well as +any additional ones needed by your application.

+

You would store the language you are currently using, for instance in a session variable.

+
+

Sample Language Files

+
system/
+        language/
+                english/
+                        ...
+                        email_lang.php
+                        form_validation_lang.php
+                        ...
+
+application/
+        language/
+                english/
+                        error_messages_lang.php
+                french/
+                        ...
+                        email_lang.php
+                        error_messages_lang.php
+                        form_validation_lang.php
+                        ...
+
+
+
+
+

Example of switching languages

+
$idiom = $this->session->get_userdata('language');
+$this->lang->load('error_messages', $idiom);
+$oops = $this->lang->line('message_key');
+
+
+
+
+
+

Internationalization

+

The Language class in CodeIgniter is meant to provide an easy and lightweight +way to support multiplelanguages in your application. It is not meant to be a +full implementation of what is commonly called internationalization and localization.

+

We use the term “idiom” to refer to a language using its common name, +rather than using any of the international standards, such as “en”, “en-US”, +or “en-CA-x-ca” for English and some of its variants.

+
+

Note

+

There is nothing to prevent you from using those abbreviations in your application!

+
+
+
+

Using the Language Class

+
+

Creating Language Files

+

Language files must be named with _lang.php as the filename extension. +For example, let’s say you want to create a file containing error messages. +You might name it: error_lang.php

+

Within the file you will assign each line of text to an array called +$lang with this prototype:

+
$lang['language_key'] = 'The actual message to be shown';
+
+
+
+

Note

+

It’s a good practice to use a common prefix for all messages +in a given file to avoid collisions with similarly named items in other +files. For example, if you are creating error messages you might prefix +them with error_

+
+
$lang['error_email_missing'] = 'You must submit an email address';
+$lang['error_url_missing'] = 'You must submit a URL';
+$lang['error_username_missing'] = 'You must submit a username';
+
+
+
+
+

Loading A Language File

+

In order to fetch a line from a particular file you must load the file +first. Loading a language file is done with the following code:

+
$this->lang->load('filename', 'language');
+
+
+

Where filename is the name of the file you wish to load (without the +file extension), and language is the language set containing it (ie, +english). If the second parameter is missing, the default language set +in your application/config/config.php file will be used.

+

You can also load multiple language files at the same time by passing an array of language files as first parameter.

+
$this->lang->load(array('filename1', 'filename2'));
+
+
+
+

Note

+

The language parameter can only consist of letters.

+
+
+
+

Fetching a Line of Text

+

Once your desired language file is loaded you can access any line of +text using this function:

+
$this->lang->line('language_key');
+
+
+

Where language_key is the array key corresponding to the line you wish +to show.

+

You can optionally pass FALSE as the second argument of that method to +disable error logging, in case you’re not sure if the line exists:

+
$this->lang->line('misc_key', FALSE);
+
+
+
+

Note

+

This method simply returns the line. It does not echo it.

+
+
+

Using language lines as form labels

+

This feature has been deprecated from the language library and moved to +the lang() function of the Language Helper.

+
+
+
+

Auto-loading Languages

+

If you find that you need a particular language globally throughout your +application, you can tell CodeIgniter to auto-load it during system initialization. This is done +by opening the application/config/autoload.php file and adding the +language(s) to the autoload array.

+
+
+
+

Class Reference

+
+
+class CI_Lang
+
+
+load($langfile[, $idiom = ''[, $return = FALSE[, $add_suffix = TRUE[, $alt_path = '']]]])
+
+++ + + + + + + + +
Parameters:
    +
  • $langfile (mixed) – Language file to load or array with multiple files
    • +
  • $idiom (string) – Language name (i.e. ‘english’)
    • +
  • $return (bool) – Whether to return the loaded array of translations
    • +
  • $add_suffix (bool) – Whether to add the ‘_lang’ suffix to the language file name
    • +
  • $alt_path (string) – An alternative path to look in for the language file
    • +
+
Returns:

Array of language lines if $return is set to TRUE, otherwise void

+
Return type:

mixed

+
+

Loads a language file.

+
+ +
+
+line($line[, $log_errors = TRUE])
+
+++ + + + + + + + +
Parameters:
    +
  • $line (string) – Language line key name
    • +
  • $log_errors (bool) – Whether to log an error if the line isn’t found
    • +
+
Returns:

Language line string or FALSE on failure

+
Return type:

string

+
+

Fetches a single translation line from the already loaded language files, +based on the line’s name.

+
+ +
+ +
+
+ + +