How to return variable values in codeigniter language line strings? - codeigniter-2

Question

To be more clear, none of these lines in default language's general_lang.php work:
$lang['general_welcome_message'] = 'Welcome, %s ( %s )';
or
$lang['general_welcome_message'] = 'Welcome, %1 ( %2 )';
I expect an output like Welcome, FirstName ( user_name ).
I followed the second (not accepted) answer at https://stackoverflow.com/a/10973668/315550.
The code I write in the view is:
<div id="welcome-box">
<?php echo lang('general_welcome_message',
$this->session->userdata('user_firstname'),
$this->session->userdata('username')
);
?>
</div>
I use codeigniter 2.

Answer 1

You will need to use php's sprintf function (http://php.net/manual/en/function.sprintf.php)
Example from http://ellislab.com/forums/viewthread/145634/#749634:
//in english
$lang['unread_messages'] = "You have %1$s unread messages, %2$s";
//in another language
$lang['unread_messages'] = "Hi %2$s, You have %1$s unread messages";
$message = sprintf($this->lang->line(‘unread_messages’), $number, $name);

Answer 2

I extended Code CI_Lang class like this..
class MY_Lang extends CI_Lang {
function line($line = '', $swap = null) {
$loaded_line = parent::line($line);
// If swap if not given, just return the line from the language file (default codeigniter functionality.)
if(!$swap) return $loaded_line;
// If an array is given
if (is_array($swap)) {
// Explode on '%s'
$exploded_line = explode('%s', $loaded_line);
// Loop through each exploded line
foreach ($exploded_line as $key => $value) {
// Check if the $swap is set
if(isset($swap[$key])) {
// Append the swap variables
$exploded_line[$key] .= $swap[$key];
}
}
// Return the implode of $exploded_line with appended swap variables
return implode('', $exploded_line);
}
// A string is given, just do a simple str_replace on the loaded line
else {
return str_replace('%s', $swap, $loaded_line);
}
}
}
ie. In your language file:
$lang['foo'] = 'Thanks, %s. Your %s has been changed.'
And where-ever you want to use it (controller / view etc.)
echo $this->lang->line('foo', array('Charlie', 'password'));
Will produce
Thanks, Charlie. Your password has been changed.
This handles single 'swaps' as well as multiple
Also it won't break any existing calls to $this->lang->line.