Title: Translation_Entry::key
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: May 20, 2026

---

# Translation_Entry::key(): string|false

## In this article

 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/translation_entry/key/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/translation_entry/key/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/translation_entry/key/?output_format=md#changelog)

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

Generates a unique key for this entry.

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

 string|false The key or false if the entry is null.

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

    ```php
    public function key() {
    	if ( null === $this->singular ) {
    		return false;
    	}

    	// Prepend context and EOT, like in MO files.
    	$key = ! $this->context ? $this->singular : $this->context . "\4" . $this->singular;
    	// Standardize on \n line endings.
    	$key = str_replace( array( "\r\n", "\r" ), "\n", $key );

    	return $key;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/pomo/entry.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/7.0/src/wp-includes/pomo/entry.php#L97)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/7.0/src/wp-includes/pomo/entry.php#L97-L108)

## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/translation_entry/key/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [2.8.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/2.8.0/) | Introduced. |

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