matecat/icu-intl

A PHP port of ICU4J's MessagePattern parser with locale utilities. Parses ICU MessageFormat patterns into an inspectable AST and provides locale data support for internationalization in PHP.

This package focuses on:

ICU MessagePattern Parser - Parsing ICU MessageFormat patterns into a precise token stream and AST (Abstract Syntax Tree), exposing the internal structure of messages (literals, arguments, selects, plurals, nested sub-messages, offsets, quoted text, etc.).
Locale Utilities - Access language data, plural rules, and locale validation for internationalization support.

This package does not provide locale-aware date/number formatting itself — it provides the pattern model and utilities so you can build formatters or validators that interoperate with PHP's intl extension or other formatting libraries.

Authors

Domenico Lupinetti — Ostico — domenico@translated.net / ostico@gmail.com

Features

ICU MessagePattern Parser

Full tokenization of ICU MessageFormat patterns (braces, argument names/indexes, type specifiers, selectors, offsets, quoted text, etc.).
AST representation of a parsed message pattern (message, message parts, argument placeholders, plural/select blocks, and their sub-messages).
Utilities for traversing, validating, and reconstructing patterns.
Error reporting with position information for malformed patterns.
Mirrored behavior of ICU4J MessagePattern parsing logic (same parsing rules and edge-case handling).

Locale Utilities

Languages: Comprehensive language data including localized names, RTL detection, and language code validation.
Plural Rules: CLDR-based plural rules for 140+ languages to determine the correct plural form for any number.
Language Domains: Domain-specific language groupings for translation workflows.

Installation

Install via Composer:

composer require matecat/icu-intl

Requirements

PHP 8.3+
ext-mbstring required
ext-intl recommended for full formatting integration (not required for parsing)
Composer for installation and development tasks

Namespaces

Namespace	Description
`Matecat\ICU`	ICU MessagePattern parser and AST classes
`Matecat\Locales`	Language data, plural rules, and locale utilities

Quick Usage

ICU MessagePattern Parser

Basic parse and inspect

use Matecat\ICU\MessagePattern;
use Matecat\ICU\Tokens\TokenType;

$patternText = "You have {num, plural, offset:1 =0{no messages} =1{one message} other{# messages}} in {folder}.";
$pattern = new MessagePattern($patternText);

// Get AST and traverse (Token is a small DTO with type, start, length, value, limit)
$indent = '';
foreach ($pattern as $i => $part) {
    $explanation = '';

    $partString = (string)$part;
    $type = $part->getType();

    if ($type === TokenType::MSG_START) {
        $indent = str_pad('', $part->getValue() * 4, ' ', STR_PAD_LEFT);
    }

    if ($part->getLength() > 0) {
        $explanation .= '="' . $pattern->getSubstring($part) . '"';
    }

    if ($type->hasNumericValue()) {
        $explanation .= '=' . $pattern->getNumericValue($part);
    }

    printf("%2d: %s%s%s\n", $i, $indent, $partString, $explanation);

    if ($type === TokenType::MSG_LIMIT) {
        $nestingLevel = $part->getValue();
        if ($nestingLevel > 1) {
            $indent = str_pad('', ($nestingLevel - 1) * 4, ' ', STR_PAD_LEFT);
        } else {
            $indent = '';
        }
    }
}

/*
     0: MSG_START(0)@0
     1: ARG_START(PLURAL)@9="{"
     2: ARG_NAME(0)@10="num"
     3: ARG_INT(1)@30="1"=1
     4: ARG_SELECTOR(0)@32="=0"
     5: ARG_INT(0)@33="0"=0
     6:     MSG_START(1)@34="{"
     7:     MSG_LIMIT(1)@46="}"
     8: ARG_SELECTOR(0)@48="=1"
     9: ARG_INT(1)@49="1"=1
    10:     MSG_START(1)@50="{"
    11:     MSG_LIMIT(1)@62="}"
    12: ARG_SELECTOR(0)@64="other"
    13:     MSG_START(1)@69="{"
    14:     REPLACE_NUMBER(0)@70="#"
    15:     MSG_LIMIT(1)@80="}"
    16: ARG_LIMIT(PLURAL)@81="}"
    17: ARG_START(NONE)@86="{"
    18: ARG_NAME(0)@87="folder"
    19: ARG_LIMIT(NONE)@93="}"
    20: MSG_LIMIT(0)@95
 */

Simple placeholders

$pattern = new MessagePattern("Hello {name}, welcome!");
/*
     0: MSG_START(0)@0
     1: ARG_START(NONE)@6="{"
     2: ARG_NAME(0)@7="name"
     3: ARG_LIMIT(NONE)@11="}"
     4: MSG_LIMIT(0)@22
*/

Plural example

$pattern = new MessagePattern();
$pattern->parse("You have {count, plural, =0{no messages} one{# message} other{# messages}}.");

Nested selects and plurals

$pattern = MessagePattern::parse("{gender, select, female{{num, plural, one{She has one file} other{She has # files}}} male{{num, plural, one{He has one file} other{He has # files}}} other{{num, plural, one{They have one file} other{They have # files}}}}");
/*
     0: MSG_START(0)@0
     1: ARG_START(SELECT)@0="{"
     2: ARG_NAME(0)@1="gender"
     3: ARG_SELECTOR(0)@17="female"
     4:     MSG_START(1)@23="{"
     5:     ARG_START(PLURAL)@24="{"
     ...
    42: ARG_LIMIT(SELECT)@219="}"
    43: MSG_LIMIT(0)@220
 */

Locale Utilities

Languages

use Matecat\Locales\Languages;

// Get all supported languages
$languages = Languages::getInstance();
$allLanguages = $languages->getLanguages();

// Get a specific language by RFC3066 code
$english = $languages->getLanguage('en-US');
echo $english['name'];        // "English US"
echo $english['localized'];   // "English"
echo $english['direction'];   // "ltr"
echo $english['plurals'];     // 2

// Check if a language is RTL
$isRtl = $languages->isRTL('ar-SA'); // true

// Get the number of plural forms for a language
$pluralCount = Languages::getPluralsCount('ru-RU'); // 3

Plural Rules

use Matecat\ICU\Plurals\PluralRules;

// Get the plural form index for a number in a specific language
$form = PluralRules::getCardinalFormIndex('en', 1);    // 0 (singular)
$form = PluralRules::getCardinalFormIndex('en', 5);    // 1 (plural)

$form = PluralRules::getCardinalFormIndex('ru', 1);    // 0 (one)
$form = PluralRules::getCardinalFormIndex('ru', 2);    // 1 (few)
$form = PluralRules::getCardinalFormIndex('ru', 5);    // 2 (many)

// Get the CLDR plural category name for a number
$category = PluralRules::getCardinalCategoryName('en', 1);    // "one"
$category = PluralRules::getCardinalCategoryName('en', 5);    // "other"

$category = PluralRules::getCardinalCategoryName('ru', 1);    // "one"
$category = PluralRules::getCardinalCategoryName('ru', 2);    // "few"
$category = PluralRules::getCardinalCategoryName('ru', 5);    // "many"

$category = PluralRules::getCardinalCategoryName('ar', 0);    // "zero"
$category = PluralRules::getCardinalCategoryName('ar', 1);    // "one"
$category = PluralRules::getCardinalCategoryName('ar', 2);    // "two"
$category = PluralRules::getCardinalCategoryName('ar', 5);    // "few"
$category = PluralRules::getCardinalCategoryName('ar', 11);   // "many"
$category = PluralRules::getCardinalCategoryName('ar', 100);  // "other"

// Get all available plural categories for a language
$categories = PluralRules::getCardinalCategories('en');  // ["one", "other"]
$categories = PluralRules::getCardinalCategories('ru');  // ["one", "few", "many"]
$categories = PluralRules::getCardinalCategories('ar');  // ["zero", "one", "two", "few", "many", "other"]

// Use category constants for comparison
if (PluralRules::getCardinalCategoryName('en', $count) === PluralRules::CATEGORY_ONE) {
    echo "Singular form";
}

Plural Compliance Validation

The MessagePatternAnalyzer validates that plural/selectordinal selectors comply with CLDR plural categories for a given locale. It provides per-argument warnings for detailed feedback.

use Matecat\ICU\MessagePattern;
use Matecat\ICU\MessagePatternAnalyzer;
use Matecat\ICU\Plurals\PluralComplianceException;

// Parse an ICU message
$pattern = new MessagePattern();
$pattern->parse('{count, plural, one{# item} other{# items}}');

// Validate plural compliance for English
$analyzer = new MessagePatternAnalyzer($pattern, 'en');
$warning = $analyzer->validatePluralCompliance();

// Returns null when all categories are valid and complete
var_dump($warning); // null - 'one' and 'other' are valid for English

// Check with Russian locale - Russian requires one/few/many/other
$analyzer = new MessagePatternAnalyzer($pattern, 'ru');
$warning = $analyzer->validatePluralCompliance();

// Returns a PluralComplianceWarning with per-argument details
$warning->getMessage();                    // Human-readable warning message
$warning->getArgumentWarnings();           // Array of PluralArgumentWarning objects
$warning->getAllMissingCategories();       // ['few', 'many']
$warning->getAllWrongLocaleSelectors();    // []

// Access per-argument warnings
foreach ($warning->getArgumentWarnings() as $argWarning) {
    echo $argWarning->argumentName;        // 'count'
    echo $argWarning->getArgumentTypeLabel(); // 'plural' or 'selectordinal'
    print_r($argWarning->expectedCategories); // ['one', 'few', 'many', 'other']
    print_r($argWarning->missingCategories);  // ['few', 'many']
    print_r($argWarning->foundSelectors);     // ['one', 'other']
    echo $argWarning->getMessage();         // Detailed message for this argument
}

// Invalid CLDR categories throw an exception
$pattern->parse('{count, plural, some{# items} other{# items}}'); // 'some' is not a valid CLDR category
$analyzer = new MessagePatternAnalyzer($pattern, 'en');

try {
    $analyzer->validatePluralCompliance();
} catch (PluralComplianceException $e) {
    echo $e->getMessage();
    // "Invalid selectors found: [some]. Valid CLDR categories are: [zero, one, two, few, many, other]."
    print_r($e->invalidSelectors);    // ['some']
    print_r($e->expectedCategories);  // ['zero', 'one', 'two', 'few', 'many', 'other']
}

// Valid CLDR categories wrong for locale return warnings (not exceptions)
$pattern->parse('{count, plural, one{# item} few{# items} other{# items}}');
$analyzer = new MessagePatternAnalyzer($pattern, 'en'); // English doesn't use 'few'
$warning = $analyzer->validatePluralCompliance();

$argWarning = $warning->getArgumentWarnings()[0];
print_r($argWarning->wrongLocaleSelectors); // ['few'] - valid CLDR but not for English

// Explicit numeric selectors (=0, =1, =2) are always valid but don't substitute category keywords
$pattern->parse('{count, plural, =0{none} =1{one item} other{# items}}');
$analyzer = new MessagePatternAnalyzer($pattern, 'en');
$warning = $analyzer->validatePluralCompliance();

$argWarning = $warning->getArgumentWarnings()[0];
print_r($argWarning->numericSelectors);    // ['=0', '=1']
print_r($argWarning->missingCategories);   // ['one'] - =1 doesn't substitute for 'one' keyword

// Nested messages with multiple plural arguments get per-argument validation
$pattern->parse("{gender, select, female{{n, plural, one{her item} other{her items}}} male{{n, plural, one{his item} other{his items}}}}");
$analyzer = new MessagePatternAnalyzer($pattern, 'en');
$warning = $analyzer->validatePluralCompliance(); // null - all valid

// SelectOrdinal validation uses ordinal rules (different from cardinal)
$pattern->parse('{rank, selectordinal, one{#st} two{#nd} few{#rd} other{#th}}');
$analyzer = new MessagePatternAnalyzer($pattern, 'en');
$warning = $analyzer->validatePluralCompliance(); // null - English ordinal uses one/two/few/other

Validation Behavior Summary

Selector Type	Behavior
Non-existent CLDR category (e.g., 'some')	Throws `PluralComplianceException`
Valid CLDR category wrong for locale (e.g., 'few' in English)	Returns warning in `wrongLocaleSelectors`
Missing required category for locale	Returns warning in `missingCategories`
Explicit numeric selector (=0, =1, etc.)	Always valid, tracked in `numericSelectors`
'other' category	Always valid (ICU requires it as fallback)

Language Domains

use Matecat\Locales\LanguageDomains;

// Get all language domains
$domains = LanguageDomains::getInstance();
$allDomains = $domains->getDomains();

// Get a specific domain
$domain = $domains->getDomain('technical');

Notes about formatting

This library focuses on parsing and structure. If you want to format values using parsed plural/select patterns:

Use PHP's Intl MessageFormatter (intl extension) for end-to-end ICU MessageFormat formatting (it accepts message strings and values).
Or, implement a custom formatter that walks the AST and applies number/date formatting from ext-intl or other libraries.

High-level API

Matecat\ICU\MessagePattern

__construct(?string $pattern = null, int $apostropheMode = MessagePattern::APOSTROPHE_DOUBLE_OPTIONAL)
parse(string $pattern): self
parseChoiceStyle(string $pattern): self
parsePluralStyle(string $pattern): self
parseSelectStyle(string $pattern): self
clear(): void
clearPatternAndSetApostropheMode(int $mode): void
getApostropheMode(): int
getPatternString(): string
countParts(): int
getPart(int $index): Part
getPartType(int $index): Parts\TokenType
getSubstring(Part $part): string
getNumericValue(Part $part): float|int (returns MessagePattern::NO_NUMERIC_VALUE when not numeric)
getPluralOffset(int $argStartIndex): float
validateArgumentName(string $name): int (static helper)
appendReducedApostrophes(string $s, int $start, int $limit, string &$out): void (static helper)
Implements Iterator to iterate parts.

Matecat\ICU\Part

Represents a parsed token/part with accessors:

getType(): Parts\TokenType
getIndex(): int
getLength(): int
getValue(): mixed
getLimit(): int
getArgType(): ?ArgType
Part::MAX_LENGTH
Part::MAX_VALUE

Matecat\ICU\Parts\TokenType (enum)

Token types used by the parser: MSG_START, MSG_LIMIT, ARG_START, ARG_NAME, ARG_NUMBER, ARG_INT, ARG_DOUBLE, ARG_TYPE, ARG_STYLE, ARG_SELECTOR, ARG_LIMIT, INSERT_CHAR, REPLACE_NUMBER, SKIP_SYNTAX, etc.

Matecat\ICU\ArgType (enum)

Argument classifications: NONE, SIMPLE, CHOICE, PLURAL, SELECT, SELECTORDINAL.

Matecat\ICU\MessagePatternAnalyzer

__construct(MessagePattern $pattern, string $language = 'en-US')
containsComplexSyntax(): bool - Returns true if the pattern contains plural, select, choice, or selectordinal
validatePluralCompliance(): ?PluralComplianceWarning - Validates if plural forms comply with the locale's expected categories. Returns null if valid, a warning object if there are issues, or throws PluralComplianceException for invalid CLDR categories.

Matecat\ICU\Plurals\PluralComplianceWarning (readonly)

Returned when plural selectors have compliance issues that don't warrant an exception.

__construct(array $argumentWarnings)
getArgumentWarnings(): array<PluralArgumentWarning> - Get all argument-level warnings
getAllMissingCategories(): array<string> - Get all missing categories across all arguments
getAllWrongLocaleSelectors(): array<string> - Get all wrong locale selectors across all arguments
getMessages(): array<string> - Get all warning messages as an array
getMessage(): string - Human-readable warning message (joins all messages with newlines)
Implements Stringable interface

Matecat\ICU\Plurals\PluralArgumentWarning (readonly)

Detailed warning information for a single plural/selectordinal argument.

argumentName: string - The argument name (e.g., 'count', 'num_guests')
argumentType: ArgType - The argument type (PLURAL or SELECTORDINAL)
expectedCategories: array<string> - Valid CLDR categories for this argument type and locale
foundSelectors: array<string> - All selectors found in this argument
missingCategories: array<string> - Expected categories not found
numericSelectors: array<string> - Explicit numeric selectors found (e.g., =0, =1)
wrongLocaleSelectors: array<string> - Valid CLDR categories that don't apply to this locale
getArgumentTypeLabel(): string - Returns 'plural' or 'selectordinal'
getMessage(): string - Human-readable message for this argument
Implements Stringable interface

Matecat\ICU\Plurals\PluralComplianceException

Thrown when a selector is not a valid CLDR category name (e.g., 'some', 'foo').

expectedCategories: array<string> - Valid CLDR categories
foundSelectors: array<string> - All selectors found in the message
invalidSelectors: array<string> - Non-existent CLDR category names
missingCategories: array<string> - (Always empty, for interface compatibility)

Matecat\Locales\Languages

getInstance(): Languages (singleton)
getLanguages(): array
getLanguage(string $rfc3066code): ?array
isRTL(string $rfc3066code): bool
getPluralsCount(string $rfc3066code): int (static)

Matecat\ICU\Plurals\PluralRules

getCardinalFormIndex(string $locale, int $n): int (static) - Returns the plural form index for a number
getCardinalCategoryName(string $locale, int $n): string (static) - Returns the CLDR category name ('zero', 'one', 'two', 'few', 'many', 'other')
getCardinalCategories(string $locale): array (static) - Returns all available cardinal category names for a locale
getOrdinalCategories(string $locale): array (static) - Returns all available ordinal category names for a locale
getOrdinalFormIndex(string $locale, int $n): int (static) - Returns the ordinal form index for a number
isValidCategory(string $selector): bool (static) - Checks if a selector is a valid CLDR category name

Constants

CATEGORY_ZERO = 'zero'
CATEGORY_ONE = 'one'
CATEGORY_TWO = 'two'
CATEGORY_FEW = 'few'
CATEGORY_MANY = 'many'
CATEGORY_OTHER = 'other'
VALID_CATEGORIES = ['zero', 'one', 'two', 'few', 'many', 'other']

Matecat\Locales\LanguageDomains

getInstance(): LanguageDomains (singleton)
getDomains(): array
getDomain(string $domainKey): ?array

Exceptions

InvalidArgumentException for syntax errors
OutOfBoundsException for excessive sizes/nesting and indexing errors
Matecat\Locales\InvalidLanguageException for invalid language codes
Matecat\ICU\Plurals\PluralComplianceException for invalid CLDR plural category names

Development

Run tests

vendor/bin/phpunit

or

composer test

Run static analysis

vendor/bin/phpstan analyze

Project Structure

ICU Parser core: src/ICU/MessagePattern.php
Pattern Analyzer: src/ICU/MessagePatternAnalyzer.php
Part/token model: src/ICU/Tokens/Part.php
Token types: src/ICU/Tokens/TokenType.php
Argument types: src/ICU/Tokens/ArgType.php
Plural Rules: src/ICU/Plurals/PluralRules.php
Plural Compliance Warning: src/ICU/Plurals/PluralComplianceWarning.php
Plural Argument Warning: src/ICU/Plurals/PluralArgumentWarning.php
Plural Compliance Exception: src/ICU/Plurals/PluralComplianceException.php
Languages: src/Locales/Languages.php
Language Domains: src/Locales/LanguageDomains.php
Tests: tests/

License

This project is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0 or later.

SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-3.0-or-later
See the LICENSE file for the full license text.
More info: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-3.0.html

Credits

This PHP port mirrors ideas from ICU4J MessagePattern.java.

See LICENSE for project license and attribution to ICU4J sources: https://github.com/unicode-org/icu
Plural rules based on CLDR (Unicode Common Locale Data Repository): https://cldr.unicode.org/

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 28 Commits
src		src
tests/Matecat/Tests		tests/Matecat/Tests
.gitignore		.gitignore
.travis.yml		.travis.yml
LICENSE.md		LICENSE.md
README.md		README.md
composer.json		composer.json
composer.lock		composer.lock
phpstan.neon		phpstan.neon
phpunit.xml.dist		phpunit.xml.dist

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matecat/icu-intl

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matecat/icu-intl

Authors

Features

ICU MessagePattern Parser

Locale Utilities

Installation

Install via Composer:

Requirements

Namespaces

Quick Usage

ICU MessagePattern Parser

Basic parse and inspect

Simple placeholders

Plural example

Nested selects and plurals

Locale Utilities

Languages

Plural Rules

Plural Compliance Validation

Validation Behavior Summary

Language Domains

Notes about formatting

High-level API

Matecat\ICU\MessagePattern

Matecat\ICU\Part

Matecat\ICU\Parts\TokenType (enum)

Matecat\ICU\ArgType (enum)

Matecat\ICU\MessagePatternAnalyzer

Matecat\ICU\Plurals\PluralComplianceWarning (readonly)

Matecat\ICU\Plurals\PluralArgumentWarning (readonly)

Matecat\ICU\Plurals\PluralComplianceException

Matecat\Locales\Languages

Matecat\ICU\Plurals\PluralRules

Constants

Matecat\Locales\LanguageDomains

Exceptions

Development

Run tests

Run static analysis

Project Structure

License

Credits

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