Plurals

The plural processing mechanism is activated when the translation text content is an array in langauges/tranclates/messages/*.json.

Enabling Plural Processing

Suppose there is a translation content in the index.html file:

    t("我有{}一辆车")

After extraction using the extract command, the translation file looks like this:

// languages/translates/messages/default.json
{
    "我有{}辆车":{
        "en":"",
        "de":"...." 
    }
}

Now, to implement plural processing for different quantities, we just need to change the above translation text to an array format.

{
    "我有{}辆车":{
        "en":["I don't have car","I have a car","I have two cars","I have {} cars"],
        "en":["I don't have car","I have a car","I have {} cars"],
        "en":["I don't have car","I have {} cars"],
        "de":"...." 
    }
}

In the above example, just change en:"" to [<plural text for 0>,<plural text for 1>,...,<plural text for n>] format in the translation file to activate the plural mechanism.

• You can flexibly translate plural forms for each number (0, 1, 2, ..., n)
• If the quantity number is greater than the array length, it always takes the last plural form
• Plural form text also supports positional interpolation and variable interpolation.

Corresponding Translation Functions

After enabling plural processing, the t function determines whether to use singular or plural based on the variable value, according to the following rules.

• No interpolation variables and the second parameter of t function is a number

t("我有一辆车",0)  // ==   "I don't have a car"
t("我有一辆车",1)  // ==   "I have a car"
t("我有一辆车",2)  // ==   "I have two cars"
t("我有一辆车",100)  // == "I have 100 cars"

• With interpolation variables and the second parameter of t function is a number

For Chinese, not specifying interpolation variables as above is awkward. Generally, introducing a positional interpolation variable is more friendly.

t("我有{}辆车",0)  		// ==   "I don't have a car"
t("我有{}辆车",1)  		// ==   "I have a car"
t("我有{}辆车",2)  		// ==   "I have two cars"
t("我有{}辆车",100)  	// == "I have 100 cars"

• Named Interpolation Variables for Plurals

When plural functionality is enabled, the t function needs to know which variable to use to determine which plural form to use.

When using positional variable interpolation, the t function takes the first numeric type parameter as the positional interpolation plural.

t("{}有{}辆车","张三",0)

When using named variable interpolation, the t function conventionally uses variables starting with $ and having numeric values to reference plurals.

In the example below, the t function handles plurals based on the $count value.

t("{name}有{$count}辆车",{name:"张三",$count:1})

Examples

// languages/translates/default.json
{
    "第{}章":{
        en:[
            "Chapter Zero","Chapter One", "Chapter Two", "Chapter Three","Chapter Four",
            "Chapter Five","Chapter Six","Chapter Seven","Chapter Eight","Chapter Nine",
            "Chapter {}"
        ],
        zh:["起始","第一章", "第二章", "第三章","第四章","第五章","第六章","第七章","第八章","第九章","第{}章"]
    }
}
// Translation functions
t("第{}章",0)  // == Chapter Zero
t("第{}章",1)  // == Chapter One
t("第{}章",2)  // == Chapter Two
t("第{}章",3)  // == Chapter Three
t("第{}章",4)  // == Chapter Four
t("第{}章",5)  // == Chapter Five
t("第{}章",6)  // == Chapter Six
t("第{}章",7)  // == Chapter Seven
...
// For numbers beyond array length, use the last item
t("第{}章",100)  // == Chapter 100