load_theme_textdomain( string $domain, string $path = false )

Load the theme’s translated strings.

Contents

Description Description

If the current locale exists as a .mo file in the theme’s root directory, it will be included in the translated strings by the $domain.

The .mo files must be named based on the locale exactly.

Parameters Parameters

$domain

(string) (Required) Text domain. Unique identifier for retrieving translated strings.

$path

(string) (Optional) Path to the directory containing the .mo file.

Default value: false

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Return Return

(bool) True when textdomain is successfully loaded, false otherwise.

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Source Source

File: wp-includes/l10n.php 

function load_theme_textdomain( $domain, $path = false ) {
	/**
	 * Filters a theme's locale.
	 *
	 * @since 3.0.0
	 *
	 * @param string $locale The theme's current locale.
	 * @param string $domain Text domain. Unique identifier for retrieving translated strings.
	 */
	$locale = apply_filters( 'theme_locale', is_admin() ? get_user_locale() : get_locale(), $domain );

	$mofile = $domain . '-' . $locale . '.mo';

	// Try to load from the languages directory first.
	if ( load_textdomain( $domain, WP_LANG_DIR . '/themes/' . $mofile ) ) {
		return true;
	}

	if ( ! $path ) {
		$path = get_template_directory();
	}

	return load_textdomain( $domain, $path . '/' . $locale . '.mo' );
}

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Changelog Changelog

Changelog
Version Description
4.6.0 The function now tries to load the .mo file from the languages directory first.
1.5.0 Introduced.

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User Contributed Notes User Contributed Notes

  1. Skip to note content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 1You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by Codex —

    1st example
    The load_theme_textdomain() function should generally be called from within the after_setup_theme action hook.

    add_action('after_setup_theme', 'wpdocs_theme_setup');

/**
 * Load translations for wpdocs_theme
 */
function wpdocs_theme_setup(){
    load_theme_textdomain('wpdocs_theme', get_template_directory() . '/languages');
}

    The .mo files must use language-only filenames, like languages/de_DE.mo in your theme directory.

    Unlike plugin language files, a name like my_theme-de_DE.mo will NOT work. Although plugin language files allow you to specify the text-domain in the filename, this will NOT work with themes. Language files for themes should include the language shortcut ONLY.

  2. Skip to note content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 0You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by Codex —

    2nd example
    you can use this example if you wish to switch theme language using a variable passed within the URL, for example to load the Tamazikht language, your URL would look like; www.example.com/?l=tz_MA, this will search for a .mo file with name tz_MA.mo in the language directory inside your theme.

    // CHANGE LOCAL LANGUAGE
// must be called before load_theme_textdomain()

add_filter( 'locale', 'wpdocs_theme_localized' );

/**
 * Switch to locale given as query parameter l, if present
 */
function wpdocs_theme_localized( $locale )
{
	if ( isset( $_GET['l'] ) )
	{
		return sanitize_key( $_GET['l'] );
	}

	return $locale;
}

// SET THEME LANGUAGES DIRECTORY
// Theme translations can be filed in the my_theme/languages/ directory
// Wordpress translations can be filed in the wp-content/languages/ directory
load_theme_textdomain( 'wpdocs_theme_textdomain', get_template_directory().'/languages' );

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