Laravel CSV translation (a.k.a LCT) offers a different approach to translate strings in Laravel 6. Translations are stored in safe, non-executable CSV files so you can edit them easily with any spreadsheet editor.

Please note: this concept is experimental. Feel free to open issues and submit your PRs!

Why

By default, Laravel provides two ways of storing translations - PHP arrays and JSON strings.

Disadvantages of PHP arrays:

Executable code requires translators to properly escape characters, use valid PHP syntax, otherwise you get a fatal error. Message IDs could be a nightmare when you develop large applications.

Disadvantages of JSON

Although JSON could be considered as a safe format, translators still have to properly escape characters and deal with the non-human-friendly format. No message IDs, but now you cannot divide your translations, which means all the strings (thousands and thousands for large apps) are loaded in memory.

Introducing LCT

• Safe, human-readable format
• Handy. Use regular spreadsheet programs to edit translations
• DRY. No message IDs
• Optimized. Automatically splits translations by "context" files
• Smart. Finds and adds untranslated strings to original files on the fly

Usage

LCT provides the following functions (and corresponding Blade directives):

Translate regular strings:

t(string $key, array $replace = [], string $context = null)

Translate plural strings:

tp(string $key, $number, array $replace = [], string $context = null)

Set global translation contex:

trans_context(string $context = null)

How it works

Let's see what happens when translating Hello :user into ukrainian language

app()->setLocale('uk'); // Set ukrainian language globally

echo t('Hello :user', ['user' => 'Юра'], 'user');

First, LCT will try to find and parse a CSV file for the current context. We have specified "user" so the expected file is resources/lang/uk/context/user.csv.

Once found and parsed, LCT checks Hello :user key in the array of translations. If key Hello :user is set, further processing is stopped and we see a localized text.

Otherwise, LCT will check "parent" file resources/lang/uk/context/_uk.csv, which is a copy of resources/lang/uk/_uk.csv (it has been copied automatically during translator initialization)

If the parent file doesn't contain Hello :user, LCT loads the distributed translation file resources/lang/uk/uk.csv (contains all translations for your app) and appends Hello :user key to resources/lang/uk/context/user.csv and resources/lang/uk/context/_uk.csv so you can translate it later using a spreadsheet editor.

As you see, specifying context in t() function can be quite tedious. You can skip it and use default route URI context or set globally (e.g per view)

Route URI context

This is by default. Say we're at page "product/some-id" which is result of this route definition:

Route::get('product/{id}', function () {
  return view('product');
});

The expected context file for this route will be resources/lang/uk/context/uri-product-id.csv.

Setting context globally

Use trans_context() in regular PHP files and @trans_context in Blade views

<?php

trans_context('user');

echo t('Hello :user', ['user' => 'Юра']); // Uses "user" context

trans_context(); // Reset context to default

echo t('Hello :user', ['user' => 'Юра']); // Uses URI context

Blade views:

@trans_context('user');

{{ t('Hello :user', ['user' => 'Юра']) }} <!-- Uses "user" context -->

@trans_context; <!-- Reset context to default -->

{{ @t('Hello :user', ['user' => 'Юра']) }} <!-- Uses URI context -->

Pluralization

Use tp() in regular PHP files and @tp() in Blade views. They are equal to Laravel's trans_choice()

Installation

composer require sribna/laravel-csv-translation