Title: PO::export
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: May 20, 2026

---

# PO::export( bool $include_headers = true ): string

## In this article

 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/po/export/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/po/export/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/po/export/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/po/export/?output_format=md#related)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/po/export/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

Exports the whole PO file as a string

## 󠀁[Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/po/export/?output_format=md#parameters)󠁿

 `$include_headers`booloptional

whether to include the headers in the export

Default:`true`

## 󠀁[Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/po/export/?output_format=md#return)󠁿

 string ready for inclusion in PO file string for headers and all the entries

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/po/export/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    public function export( $include_headers = true ) {
    	$res = '';
    	if ( $include_headers ) {
    		$res .= $this->export_headers();
    		$res .= "\n\n";
    	}
    	$res .= $this->export_entries();
    	return $res;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/pomo/po.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/7.0/src/wp-includes/pomo/po.php#L59)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/7.0/src/wp-includes/pomo/po.php#L59-L67)

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/po/export/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Uses | Description | 
| [PO::export_headers()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/po/export_headers/)`wp-includes/pomo/po.php` |

Exports headers to a PO entry

  | 
| [PO::export_entries()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/po/export_entries/)`wp-includes/pomo/po.php` |

Exports all entries to PO format

  |

| Used by | Description | 
| [PO::export_to_file()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/po/export_to_file/)`wp-includes/pomo/po.php` |

Same as export, but writes the result to a file

  |

## User Contributed Notes

You must [log in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fdeveloper.wordpress.org%2Freference%2Fclasses%2Fpo%2Fexport%2F)
before being able to contribute a note or feedback.