load_plugin_textdomain( string $domain, string|false $deprecated = false, string|false $plugin_rel_path = false ): bool

User Contributed Notes

1. Skip to note 6 content

   Fahad Alduraibi 9 years ago

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   Loading the plugin translations should not be done during plugins_loaded action since that is too early and prevent other language related plugins from correctly hooking up with load_textdomain() function and doing whatever they want to do.
   Calling load_plugin_textdomain() should be delayed until init action.

   add_action( 'init', 'wpdocs_load_textdomain' );
    
   /**
    * Load plugin textdomain.
    */
   function wpdocs_load_textdomain() {
     load_plugin_textdomain( 'wpdocs_textdomain', false, dirname( plugin_basename( __FILE__ ) ) . '/languages' ); 
   }

   • I’ve found the after_setup_theme can work better. The default WordPress themes use this hook to load the theme textdomains and some plugin init actions require the translations to be in place and load before the default priority 10.

     joost de keijzer 4 years ago
   • Loading plugin textdomain on init hook doesn’t work for all the strings. For example, translations for admin menu items will not be loaded, while later strings will be translated.

     Viktor 2 years ago
   • “The text domain name must use dashes and not underscores, be lower case, and have no spaces.”

     Gabriel Reguly 2 years ago
   • I think, The plugins_loaded hook is more appropriate than the init hook for loading translations because it ensures that all plugins are fully loaded before your plugin’s text domain is registered.

     FARAZFRANK 9 months ago
2. Skip to note 7 content

   Pablo Pacheco 5 years ago

   You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 5You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note

   Just a note,

   load_plugin_textdomain() will try to load the mo file firstly from:
   WP_LANG_DIR . ‘/plugins/’ . $mofile

   Only if it is not able to it will load it from WP_PLUGIN_DIR folder
3. Skip to note 8 content

   Gabriel Reguly 2 years ago

   You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 4You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note

   “The text domain name must use dashes and not underscores, be lower case, and have no spaces.”

   Source: https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/internationalization/how-to-internationalize-your-plugin/

   So use ‘wpdocs-textdomain’ instead of ‘wpdocs_textdomain’, e.g.
   
load_plugin_textdomain( 'wpdocs-textdomain', false, dirname( plugin_basename( __FILE__ ) ) . '/languages' );

4. Skip to note 9 content

   Binsaifullah 5 years ago

   You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: -6You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note

   Plugin Text domain load

   function my_plugin_init() {
       load_plugin_textdomain( 'my-textdomain', false, dirname( plugin_basename( __FILE__ ) ) . '/languages' ); 
   }
   add_action( 'plugins_loaded', 'my_plugin_init' );

   • See note by Fahad Alduraibi above: You should load plugin textdomains during the init action (and not plugins_loaded).

     Philipp Stracker 5 years ago
5. Skip to note 10 content

   FARAZFRANK 9 months ago

   You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: -9You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note

   
/**
* Load plugin textdomain.
*/
function load_translation() {
load_plugin_textdomain( 'your-plugin-textdomain', false, dirname( plugin_basename( __FILE__ ) ) . '/languages' );
}
add_action( 'plugins_loaded', 'load_translation' );


   The plugins_loaded hook is more appropriate than the init hook for loading translations because it ensures that all plugins are fully loaded before your plugin’s text domain is registered. This avoids potential issues with translation files being loaded too early.

   plugins_loaded hook: This hook fires after all active plugins have been loaded. It’s the recommended place for loading the text domain since all necessary plugin files will be available by then.

   init hook: While it can work, it’s fired earlier than plugins_loaded, and loading the text domain here may result in translations not being fully registered, especially if your plugin depends on other plugins being loaded.

   Therefore, using plugins_loaded is the best practice for ensuring reliable translation loading.

   • It’s exactly the opposite. plugins_loaded is before init and is too early for loading translations.

     Pascal Birchler 7 months ago
   • Using plugins_loaded instead of init will now give you a warning. Don’t use it!

     JanLukas 5 months ago