locale-simple 0.106

Tiny gettext wrapper with sprintf-style helpers (l, ln, lp, ld, …) — same API as the Perl and JavaScript siblings, so one .po file feeds all three runtimes.

locale-simple

A tiny, sharp wrapper around gettext with sprintf-style formatting and short, friendly helpers (l, ln, lp, ld, …). UTF‑8 only, by design.

The same API ships in three runtimes — Perl, Python and JavaScript — so one set of .po files feeds your whole stack. Translate once, use everywhere.

---

Why locale-simple?

• Same API across languages. A function called lnp in Python behaves identically in Perl and JavaScript. No mental context switch when jumping between server, CLI tool and frontend.
• One .po file for everything. Scrape strings from Perl/Python/JS sources with the same scraper, ship one translation bundle.
• sprintf baked in. Both classic (%s) and positional (%1$s) placeholders — exactly like Perl's sprintf and gettext's xgettext format strings expect.
• Boring and small. Single-file module, no surprises, no magic.

Install

pip install locale-simple

Quick start

from locale_simple import l, ln, lp, ld, l_dir, l_lang, ltd

l_dir('data/locale')   # where your .mo files live
ltd('myapp')           # default text domain
l_lang('de_DE')        # primary language

print(l("Hello"))
# → Hallo

print(ln("You have %d message", "You have %d messages", 1))
# → Du hast 1 Nachricht

print(ln("You have %d message", "You have %d messages", 5))
# → Du hast 5 Nachrichten

print(lp("button", "Open"))           # context-disambiguated
print(ld("emails", "Welcome, %s", name))  # explicit domain

API at a glance

Function	gettext equivalent	What it does
l(msgid, *args)	gettext	Translate, then sprintf
ln(msgid, msgid_plural, n, *args)	ngettext	Plural form for n
lp(ctxt, msgid, *args)	pgettext	With disambiguating context
lnp(ctxt, msgid, msgid_plural, n, *args)	npgettext	Plural + context
ld(domain, msgid, *args)	dgettext	Specific text domain
ldn(domain, msgid, msgid_plural, n, *args)	dngettext	Domain + plural
ldp(domain, ctxt, msgid, *args)	dpgettext	Domain + context
ldnp(domain, ctxt, msgid, msgid_plural, n, *args)	dnpgettext	The full thing

Configuration helpers

Call	Purpose
l_dir(path)	Locale directory containing <lang>/LC_MESSAGES/<domain>.mo
l_lang(code)	Set primary language (de_DE, pt_BR, …)
ltd(domain)	Default text domain
l_dry(path)	Append every encountered string to a .po-ish file (scrape mode)
l_nolocales(bool)	Skip lookup, return the formatted msgid (handy in tests)

Sibling packages

Runtime	Package	Repo path
Perl	Locale::Simple on CPAN	lib/Locale/Simple.pm
Python	locale-simple on PyPI	python/locale_simple.py
JavaScript	locale-simple on npm	js/src/index.js

All three share the same source tree: https://github.com/Getty/locale-simple

License

MIT © Torsten Raudssus