How to implement a multilingual website in PHP

With the increasing popularity of the Internet, more and more websites need to support multiple languages. This is because the website's audience may come from different regions and cultural backgrounds, and if the website is only available in a single language, it may limit the number and experience of visitors. This article will introduce how to implement a multilingual website in PHP.

1. Creation and design of language files

Language files are files that store all text strings and their corresponding translations, and need to be created in a specific format. When creating language files, you need to consider the following aspects:

1. Naming and storage location

The file name should clearly indicate which language and website section the file belongs to, and be stored in a In folders that are easy to access and manage.

2. Choice of variable names

Variable names should be meaningful, easy to understand and remember, and different website parts can be distinguished through naming prefixes.

3. Translation accuracy and format

The translation should accurately reflect the meaning of the original text and follow the correct format of grammar and vocabulary.

2. Use PHP functions to implement multi-language

1. Read language files

In PHP, use the function file_get_contents() to read strings from language files. Convert the JSON string to an array using the json_decode() function so that the text string and its corresponding translation can be accessed via key-value pairs.

For example, the following code snippet shows how to read a German language file named "de.json":

$language = "de";
$file = "translations/" . $language . ".json";
$string = file_get_contents($file);
$translations = json_decode($string, true);

2. Set the default language

Define a file named The constant of $lang represents the default language. For example, the following command sets English as the default language:

define('LANG', 'en');

3. Switch languages ​​based on the language selected by the user

If the user needs to switch languages, they can use GET or POST requests. The language selector can be provided as a navigation menu or in a drop-down menu at the top of the website.

For example, the following snippet shows how to respond to a GET request named "lang" and set it to the current language:

if (isset($_GET['lang'])) {
    $_SESSION[LANG] = $_GET['lang'];
}

4. Output text based on key-value pairs

To output a language-specific text string, use a display function such as echo or print, and then enter the translation corresponding to the key. The following code snippet explains how to print a text string in PHP:

echo $translations['PAGE_HEADER'];

In this example, the string "PAGE_HEADER" is a key identifier defined in the language file.

3. Use database to store multi-language

If you need to dynamically manage website content, you can store multi-language text strings in the database. In addition, a multilingual management system can be placed in the backend of the website and provide an interface to add, edit and delete text strings.

1. Add language support

When adding support for a new language, you can insert a record into the database. Each record contains a text string key, a text string value, and an identifier for the language. For example, the following example inserts a new language record with the language identifier "fr".

INSERT INTO translations (key, value, lang) VALUES ('PAGE_TITLE', 'Titre de la page', 'fr');

2. Get the text string and its translation

You can use connection strings and SQL queries to get the keys and values ​​of a language-specific text string. The following code snippet shows how to get the translation of the French page title.

$lang = 'fr';
$key = 'PAGE_TITLE';
$query = "SELECT value FROM translations WHERE key='$key' AND lang='$lang'";
$result = mysqli_query($conn, $query);
$row = mysqli_fetch_row($result);
echo $row[0];

Here, $conn is the variable connected to the database.

4. Conclusion

This article introduces how to implement a multi-language website in PHP. This can be achieved by creating and designing language files, using PHP functions to implement multilingual functionality, and using a database to store multiple languages. Regardless of which method you choose, a multilingual website can better serve a diverse audience and increase the site's accessibility and popularity.

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