Use _n to write a phrase in single or plural form

If you would want to write a phrase in single or plural form depending on a number, there is a very handy function for it written in WordPress called _n. The function also takes a $domain argument which can be handy when localizing plugins or themes.

In your search template you might want to print “Found X results matching your query”. When X is above 1 you want to write “results” but if there only was a single result found you would want to write “result”.

This can be accomplished with the following code:

<?php printf( __( 'Found %d %s matching your query: %s' ), $wp_query->found_posts, _n( 'result', 'results', $wp_query->found_posts), get_search_query() ); ?>

More information about _n can be found in the codex!

About Vincent

Web Developer @ Oakwood Creative - www.oakwood.se

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Tagged with: localization, localizing, plural, search, single, _n
Posted in Best Practices, Intermediate