How can I automatically extract strings for translation?

Question

I wrote a website, with several pages, in PHP and now need it translated to a different language.

I've been searching ages for how I can just automatically extract all the strings and HTML text in my php source code, manually translate each, and then insert them back in.

I don't want multi-language support, and I've checked translation solutions such as Translate2, but they all seem to require you to manually go in and replace code.

I'd modify the code myself, but I don't know the language and this needs to be passed on to a translator.

Surely, there's a ready made solution for this?

If not, can anyone recommend some solid regex for string or HTML text searching?

Thank you

Answer 1

Declare strings like:

$someString = _('Some text that needs to be translated');

PHP Gettext

Extract them to a .po file.

Send them off to a translator, who will translate the strings with Poedit.

Once you get your .po back, put it in an appropriately named directory, such as /your/file/path/zh_CN/LC_MESSAGES/messages.po

Change the locale in PHP:

 setlocale(LC_ALL,  'zh_CN' . '.UTF8') ;
 bindtextdomain('messages', "/your/file/path/");
 textdomain('messages') ;