############## 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'll find one called language containing sets of language files. You can create your own language files as needed in order to display error and other messages in other languages. Language files are typically stored in your **system/language/** directory. Alternately you can create a directory called language inside your application folder and store them there. CodeIgniter will always 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 .. contents:: :local: .. raw:: html <div class="custom-index container"></div> ************************ 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. .. 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:: $this->lang->line('misc_key', FALSE); .. note:: This method simply returns the line. It does not echo it. Using language lines as form labels ----------------------------------- This feature has been deprecated from the language library and moved to the :func:`lang()` function of the :doc:`Language Helper <../helpers/language_helper>`. Auto-loading Languages ====================== If you find that you need a particular language globally throughout your application, you can tell CodeIgniter to :doc:`auto-load <../general/autoloader>` it during system initialization. This is done by opening the **application/config/autoload.php** file and adding the language(s) to the autoload array. *************** Class Reference *************** .. class:: CI_Lang .. method:: load($langfile[, $idiom = ''[, $return = FALSE[, $add_suffix = TRUE[, $alt_path = '']]]]) :param string $langfile: Language file to load :param string $idiom: Language name (i.e. 'english') :param bool $return: Whether to return the loaded array of translations :param bool $add_suffix: Whether to add the '_lang' suffix to the language file name :param string $alt_path: An alternative path to look in for the language file :returns: Array of language lines if $return is set to TRUE, otherwise void :rtype: mixed Loads a language file. .. method:: line($line[, $log_errors = TRUE]) :param string $line: Language line key name :param bool $log_errors: Whether to log an error if the line isn't found :returns: Language line string or FALSE on failure :rtype: string Fetches a single translation line from the already loaded language files, based on the line's name.