Controlling parameters order
When translating, sometimes the translation of a particular string requires different parameter order. But it is usually not allowed to change them in the translated string. There is a workaround to change the order in translation, and it can be found with info gettext
command.
For example; in German, this won't work:
msgid "String '%s' has %d characters\n" msgstr "%d Zeichen lang ist die Zeichenkette '%s'\n"
In order to specify the parameter order, the number with $ mark can be given as below:
msgstr "%2$d Zeichen lang ist die Zeichenkette '%1$s'\n"
Alternatives
In some cases, you may see a string that looks like %(var)s
. This is called a variable and can be moved within a string in any order.
msgid "String '%(str)s' has %(char)s characters\n"
Translated:
msgstr "%(char)s Zeichen lang ist die Zeichenkette '%(str)s'\n"
No other changes are required.