Super weird PHP translation workaround

Question

So, I'm not sure if this has been done before. I have just installed a PHP application on my server and I want to translate the site.

The application uses a language_name.php file for each language. Each language file contains a multi-dimensional array $_LANG.

$_LANG keys range from one level, $_LANG['l1'] = "string"; to about 5 levels, $_LANG['l1']['l2']['l3']['l4']['l5'] = "string";

WHAT I WANT TO ATTEMPT

To create nested foreach loops to loop through and echo the $key - $value pairs. After which I will write a translation function to translate the values before the echo..

THE PROBLEM

The original file contains more than 3,750 lines.
My echoed version only contains 3,387.


    <?php

    $_LANG['lang']['vars']['go'];
    $_LANG['at']['the'];
    $_LANG['top'];,

    foreach ($_LANG as $key => $value) {
        if (is_array($value)) {
        
            foreach ($value as $key1 => $value1) {            
                if (is_array($value1)) {
                
                    foreach ($value1 as $key2 => $value2) {
                        if (is_array($value2)) {
                        
                            foreach ($value2 as $key3 => $value3) {
                                if (is_array($value3)) {
                                
                                    foreach ($value3 as $key4 => $value4) {
                                        if (is_array($value4)) {
                                        
                                            foreach ($value4 as $key5 => $value5) {
                                                echo '$_LANG[\''.$key.'\'][\''.$key1.'\'][\''.$key2.'\'][\''.$key3.'\'][\''.$key4.'\'][\''.$key5.'\'] = "'.$value5.'";'.'<br>';
                                            }
                                        }
                                        else {
                                            echo '$_LANG[\''.$key.'\'][\''.$key1.'\'][\''.$key2.'\'][\''.$key3.'\'][\''.$key4.'\'] = "'.$value4.'";'.'<br>';
                                        }
                                    }
                                }
                                else {
                                    echo '$_LANG[\''.$key.'\'][\''.$key1.'\'][\''.$key2.'\'][\''.$key3.'\'] = "'.$value3.'";'.'<br>';
                                }
                            }
                        }
                        else {
                            echo '$_LANG[\''.$key.'\'][\''.$key1.'\'][\''.$key2.'\'] = "'.$value2.'";'.'<br>';
                        }
                    }
                }
                else {
                    echo '$_LANG[\''.$key.'\'][\''.$key1.'\'] = "'.$value1.'";'.'<br>';
                }
            }
        }
        else {
            echo '$_LANG[\''.$key.'\'] = "'.$value.'";'.'<br>';
        }
    }

    ?>

try to use recursive function to iterate over child array depth: https://stackoverflow.com/a/48431850/4248328 — Alive to die - Anant, Aug 02 '21 at 06:27

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 02 '21 at 11:07

So, I have searched around on the internet and solved my own problems.

I decided to stick with the foreach() loop and used the count() function to see if I was echoing out the correct number of variables. After verifying that it was indeed returning all the key|value pairs, I moved on the the actual translating... More workarounds...

I found a Git Repo Git Repo that would allow me to use the Google Translate service for free, at which point I modified the foreach() loop to something like this.

foreach ($_LANG as $key => $value) {
    if (is_array($value)) {
        
        foreach ($value as $key1 => $value1) {            
            if (is_array($value1)) {
                
                foreach ($value1 as $key2 => $value2) {
                    if (is_array($value2)) {
                        
                        foreach ($value2 as $key3 => $value3) {
                            if (is_array($value3)) {
                                
                                foreach ($value3 as $key4 => $value4) {
                                    if (is_array($value4)) {
                                        
                                        foreach ($value4 as $key5 => $value5) {
                                            echo '$_LANG[\''.$key.'\'][\''.$key1.'\'][\''.$key2.'\'][\''.$key3.'\'][\''.$key4.'\'][\''.$key5.'\'] = "'.$trans->translate('en', 'vi', $value5).'";'.'<br>';
                                        }
                                    }
                                    else {
                                        echo '$_LANG[\''.$key.'\'][\''.$key1.'\'][\''.$key2.'\'][\''.$key3.'\'][\''.$key4.'\'] = "'.$trans->translate('en', 'vi', $value4).'";'.'<br>';
                                    }
                                }

                            }
                            else {
                                echo '$_LANG[\''.$key.'\'][\''.$key1.'\'][\''.$key2.'\'][\''.$key3.'\'] = "'.$trans->translate('en', 'vi', $value3).'";'.'<br>';
                            }
                        }

                    }
                    else {
                        echo '$_LANG[\''.$key.'\'][\''.$key1.'\'][\''.$key2.'\'] = "'.$trans->translate('en', 'vi', $value2).'";'.'<br>';
                    }
                }

            }
            else {
                echo '$_LANG[\''.$key.'\'][\''.$key1.'\'] = "'.$trans->translate('en', 'vi', $value1).'";'.'<br>';
            }
        }

    }
    else {
        echo '$_LANG[\''.$key.'\'] = "'.$trans->translate('en', 'vi', $value).'";'.'<br>';
    }
}

However, I was only able to receive about 150 key|value pairs back at a time as the Google Translate service has numerous limitations, and therefore I had to change my IP address with a VPN on every request.

I know this is not the ideal way to translate your site content.

Copying and pasting 3700 values is definitely not an option.
Also definitely not paying for the Google Cloud Translate API.

Super weird PHP translation workaround

1 Answers1