Quickly change translatable strings using gettext filter - WordPress

To translate or change text within a WordPress theme / plugin, we want to edit the theme / plugin PO file ( if the theme has been localized ).

Consider that we have to quickly change a few words on our site though without editing the PO file. We can easily do this by using a WordPress function and gettext filter that will translate / replace any text that has been localized.

Example:

In WooCommerce single product template files, we have a statement like below on related.php file.

<?php _e( 'Related Products', 'woocommerce' ); ?>

We can easily translate these strings by adding a filter to our theme’s functions.php file.

/*
 * Change text strings
 */
function my_text_strings( $translated_text, $text, $domain ) {
	switch ( $translated_text ) {
		case 'Related Products' :
			$translated_text = __( 'Check out these related products', 'woocommerce' );
			break;
	}
	return $translated_text;
}
add_filter( 'gettext', 'my_text_strings', 20, 3 );

Too simple! We can add as many translations to that filter by adding new case statements.

Recent Posts

1. Automating Code Linting with GitHub Actions for WordPress Plugins
2. Comprehensive Guide to Linting PHP, JavaScript, and CSS in WordPress Plugins Using Composer
3. The Ultimate Guide to Indexing in Database Design
4. Understanding 'update_meta_cache' in WordPress - When to Use It, When Not to, and Its Impact on Database Queries
5. A Guide to Configuring JavaScript and SCSS Paths in WordPress Plugins with @wordpress/scripts

This article was published on May 24, 2015

Your Questions / Comments

If you found this article interesting, found errors, or just want to discuss about it, please get in touch.