Re: language files

Ryan A wrote:

Hey, I was just wondering which is the best/most efficient way of having language files for a site? eg: if $lang=english then it should include lang.en.inc.php if $lang=swedish then it should include lang.se.inc.php etc One way I did it before was to have an array like so: $lang_en[0]="Enter username"; $lang_en[1]="Enter password"; etc and then in the main php files I include the above language files and in the print/echo statements I echo $lang_en[x]. It works quite well but just looking at the code its quite easy to get confused because of all the $lang_en[x] statements...and you have to constantly check the language file and the array number to know whats where, I though of using short workds like $get_user="Enter your username:"; $get_pass="Enter your password:"; but then sooner or later you are going to use the same variable and overwrite what you wrote before if you are not careful..esp if you have a lot of text on your site...or a large site....which will produce some weird results till you notice your mistake... So.....how have you guys done it....or ....any advise on doing it? pointers? tips? ideas? Cheers, Ryan

Hey ryan! What I do is use an $lang array, but instead of using the traditional numers ([0], [1], [2]), I use $lang['hello'] or $lang['goodbye']. To prevent overwriting, I usually use the context in which they are used in as well: $lang['login_username'] = 'Username: '; $lang['login_password'] = 'Password: '; $lang['link_index'] = 'Go Home';