Allow placeholders in language lines

system/helpers/language_helper.php

@@ -62,5 +62,40 @@ function lang($line, $id = '')
 	}
 }
 
+if ( ! function_exists('lang_format'))
+{
+	/**
+	 * Lang Format
+	 *
+	 * Fetches a language variable and optionally replaces placeholders with
+	 * actual values
+	 *
+	 * @param	string	the language line
+	 * @param	string	the actual value(s) for the placeholder(s)
+	 * @param	string	the placeholder string
+	 * @return	string
+	 */
+	function lang_format($line, $values = NULL, $placeholder = '?')
+	{
+		$line = lang($line);
+
+		if($values !== NULL && ($position = strpos($line, $placeholder)) !== FALSE)
+		{
+			$values = is_array($values) ? $values : array($values);
+			$placeholder_length = strlen($placeholder);
+			$index = 0;
+
+			do
+			{
+				$line = substr_replace($line, $values[$index++], $position, $placeholder_length);
+				$position = strpos($line, $placeholder, $position + $placeholder_length);
+			}
+			while($position !== FALSE);
+		}
+
+		return $line;
+	}
+}
+
 /* End of file language_helper.php */
 /* Location: ./system/helpers/language_helper.php */

user_guide_src/source/changelog.rst

@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ Release Date: Not Released
 	 - ``url_title()`` will now trim extra dashes from beginning and end.
 	 - ``anchor_popup()`` will now fill the "href" attribute with the URL and its JS code will return false instead.
 	 - Added JS window name support to ``anchor_popup()`` function.
+   -  :doc:`Language Helper <helpers/language_helper>` changes include:
+	 - added ``lang_format()`` which allows for placeholders in the line of text to be replaced with actual values.
    -  Added XHTML Basic 1.1 doctype to :doc:`HTML Helper <helpers/html_helper>`.
    -  Changed ``humanize()`` to include a second param for the separator.
    -  Refactored ``plural()`` and ``singular()`` to avoid double pluralization and support more words.

user_guide_src/source/helpers/language_helper.rst

@@ -31,3 +31,21 @@ form label for you. Example
 	echo lang('language_key', 'form_item_id');
 	// becomes <label for="form_item_id">language_key</label>
 
+lang_format('language line', 'placeholder value(s)', 'placeholder string')
+===================================
+
+This function returns a line of text from a loaded language file with
+simplified syntax that may be more desirable for view files than calling
+`$this->lang->line()`. The optional second and third parameters allows you
+to replace placeholders in the line of text with actual values. Example
+
+::
+
+	// $lang['language_key'] = 'You have ? new messages.';
+	echo lang_format('language_key', 10);
+	// outputs: You have 10 new messages.
+
+	// $lang['language_key'] = 'Are you sure you want to remove %s from %s ?';
+	echo lang_format('language_key', array('Item 1', 'Category 1'), '%s');
+	// outputs: Are you sure you want to remove Item 1 from Category 1 ?
+