Overview

Generally, text strings that appear in the UI of your site and in FacetWP will be translatable using __() or _e(). You’d use a translation plugin, or a WordPress gettext filter (see this example).

However, some of the UI strings that appear in various facet types are dynamic, “in-database” strings, which means that WPML or Polylang for example cannot see them. The facetwp_i18n filter allows these strings to be translated.

This filter can also be used to translate facet labels.

Translatable strings

The following strings can be translated with this hook. For an example of how to use it, see below.

Facet type Option / string
Dropdown facet Default label
Radio facet Default label
fSelect facet Default label
Hierarchy facet Default label
Slider facet Reset text
Prefix
Suffix
Search facet Placeholder text
Autocomplete facet Placeholder text
Date Range facet Placeholder texts. Note: the Date Range facet’s calendar can be translated with the facetwp_render_output hook.
Star Rating facet “& up” and “Undo” link texts
Proximity facet Placeholder text
Pager facet See this example
Type: Page numbers Dots label
Prev button label
Next button label
Type: Result counts Count text (plural)
Count text (singular)
Count text (no results)
Type: Load more Load more text
Loading text
Type: Per page Default label
“Show all” text (if a non-numeric option is added in the settings)
Sort facet Default label
All sort option labels
Reset facet Reset text
Map facet “Enable map filtering” button text
“Reset” button text
Hierarchy Select facet Depth labels
Range List facet Default label
Time Since facet Choices labels
Default label
A-Z Listing Default label
Color “See {num} more” / “See less” link text
All facet types Facet labels (which appear as headings in the Mobile Flyout and as labels in the User Selections facet). See below for an example.

Parameters

  • $string | string | The string to translate

Usage examples

Translate UI strings

To translate one or more of the UI strings listed above, add the following code (adapted with your translated strings) to your (child) theme’s functions.php.

In this example, the default language is English and the code gives translations for 2 strings, for the 2 non-default languages, in this case Spanish (‘es’) and German (‘de’). You should only list the non-default language(s), and use the strings as used in the default language (in this case the English ‘Any’ and ‘Enter keywords’). These are the strings as they are set by default in FacetWP’s code, or in each facet’s settings (for example the Placeholder text you can set in the Search facet’s settings).

Also important for this to work is that any strings you set in your facets’ settings are in the default language. Last but not least: the strings need to match exactly, including capitalization and spaces.

How to use custom PHP code?

PHP code can be added to your (child) theme's functions.php file. Alternatively, you can use the Custom Hooks add-on, or a code snippets plugin. More info

add_filter( 'facetwp_i18n', function( $string ) { if ( isset( FWP()->facet->http_params['lang'] ) ) { $lang = FWP()->facet->http_params['lang']; $translations = []; $translations['es']['Any'] = 'Cualquier'; $translations['de']['Any'] = 'Jeder'; $translations['es']['Enter keywords'] = 'Introduzca las palabras clave'; $translations['de']['Enter keywords'] = 'Geben Sie Schlüsselwörter'; if ( isset( $translations[ $lang ][ $string ] ) ) { return $translations[ $lang ][ $string ]; } } return $string; });

Translate facet labels

Besides translating UI strings, the facetwp_i18n filter can also be used to translate facet labels. The facet label is the label you give it when creating it (not to be confused with the facet’s name, which is its technical name):

The facet label vs. the facet name.
The facet label vs. the facet name.

The facet label appears as facet heading in the Mobile Flyout and as label in the User Selections facet).

Translating facet labels works the same as translating UI strings. Here is an example for a facet with label “Size” in the default English language, which is translated to “Maat” when the page is viewed in the Dutch language. Note that the label needs to match exactly, including capitalization and spaces:

How to use custom PHP code?

PHP code can be added to your (child) theme's functions.php file. Alternatively, you can use the Custom Hooks add-on, or a code snippets plugin. More info

add_filter( 'facetwp_i18n', function( $string ) { if ( isset( FWP()->facet->http_params['lang'] ) ) { $lang = FWP()->facet->http_params['lang']; $translations = []; $translations['nl']['Size'] = 'Maat'; if ( isset( $translations[ $lang ][ $string ] ) ) { return $translations[ $lang ][ $string ]; } } return $string; });

Don’t confuse translating facet labels with translating facet choices:

Translate facet choices

There are multiple ways to translate facet choices. The obvious way is to translate the content of the source field that the facet uses. For example, if your facet uses a taxonomy as data source, you can translate the taxonomy terms with Polylang or WPML.

Alternatively, you can translate facet choices manually. This can be done with the facetwp_facet_display_value hook, or with the facetwp_facet_render_args hook.

Use the facetwp_i18n hook without the Multilingual add-on

If you are not using WPML or Polylang (with the FacetWP Multilingual add-on), you can still use the facetwp_i18n hook. You only need a way to detect the current language of the page (or site if you are using a multi-site setup).

The following code example gets the language from the current page/site with WP’s get_locale() function:

How to use custom PHP code?

PHP code can be added to your (child) theme's functions.php file. Alternatively, you can use the Custom Hooks add-on, or a code snippets plugin. More info

add_filter( 'facetwp_i18n', function( $string ) { // Get the current site's locale $lang = get_locale(); $translations = [ 'fr_FR' => [ 'All categories' => 'Toutes les catégories', ], ]; if ( isset( $translations[ $lang ][ $string ] ) ) { return $translations[ $lang ][ $string ]; } return $string; });

More examples

See also