%s What does it mean?

tllcuk · **Joined:** Tue Oct 28, 2008 4:20 pm **Posts:** 60

I am trying to find some information on the meaning and use of this little %s that is found in the language ini files, for exaple:

Quote:

EMAIL_MSG=This is an e-mail from (%s) sent by %s (%s). You may also find the following link interesting: %s

I have googled and search the forums, but can't find an explantion on what it is, does or how to use it.

Can anyone point me a link?

Thanks.

Simon

cjbush · **Posted:** Thu Nov 05, 2009 7:50 pm

It is a string replacement for a sprintf statement.
Here is a link with more information on sprintf:

http://php.net/manual/en/function.sprintf.php

Hope that helps.

Tonie · **Joined:** Thu Aug 18, 2005 7:13 am **Posts:** 13249

They are placeholders for text that is inserted when that specific message is triggered somewhere and is used through JText.

tllcuk · **Joined:** Tue Oct 28, 2008 4:20 pm **Posts:** 60

Thanks for the link, I can se I am going to have great fun now

tllcuk · **Joined:** Tue Oct 28, 2008 4:20 pm **Posts:** 60

Looking at the sprintf documents, it is well over my head.

The main problem I have is when a user registers on my site through JomSocial.
For some reason the activation email that is received by the user is incorrectly showing the registered Username and instead putting in the domain name.
But in the confirmation email sent to admin, it is pulling the Username correctly.

I have been looking through the en-GB.com_community.ini file which states:

Code:

SEND_MSG_ACTIVATE=Hello %s,\n\nThank you for registering at The LED Community. Your account has been created and must be activated before you can use it.\nTo activate the account click on the following link or copy-&-paste it in your browser:\n%s\n\nAfter activation you may login to %s using the following username and password:\n\nUsername: %s\nPassword: %s

SEND_MSG_ADMIN=Hello %s,\n\nA new user has registered at %s.\nThis e-mail contains their details:\n\nName: %s\nE-mail: %s\nUsername: %s\n\nPlease do not respond to this message. It is automatically generated and is for information purposes only.

I now wonder were it gets the data when %s is called.

ooffick · **Posted:** Fri Nov 06, 2009 10:01 am

tllcuk wrote:

I now wonder were it gets the data when %s is called.

It is called with the sprintf function:

Code:

sprintf ( JText::_( 'MAIL_MSG_ADMIN' ), $adminName, $type, $title, $author, $url, $url, 'administrator', $type);

Please note that the order of the %s variables is important.

Olaf

simonwellsuk · **Joined:** Thu Oct 29, 2009 1:40 pm **Posts:** 23

Thanks Olaf.

I found the issue, it was due to one of the %s being removed in the language.ini file.

Where would I find the file that contains the sprintf function and variables for this?
I also guess there is some document listing all the types of variables for sprintf in joomla?

Thanks again.

ooffick · **Posted:** Fri Nov 06, 2009 2:34 pm

Here are the types specified:
http://php.net/manual/en/function.sprintf.php

Olaf

simonwellsuk · **Joined:** Thu Oct 29, 2009 1:40 pm **Posts:** 23

Thanks again Olaf.

So if I understand this correctly, all joomla php files contain these strings and placeholders.
Having looked and paid a bit more attention to the php side of things, instead of the css and html, I can see these now, but may not understand it all.

Taking the previous code from the en-GB.com_community.ini file

Code:

SEND_MSG_ACTIVATE=Hello %s,\n\nThank you for registering at $s. Your account has been created and must be activated before you can use it.\nTo activate the account click on the following link or copy-&-paste it in your browser:\n%s\n\nAfter activation you may login to %s using the following username and password:\n\nUsername: %s\nPassword: %s

I am now curious to know which file the %s are setup to specify the username, domain, activation link, domain, username, password as seen in that string.

ooffick · **Posted:** Fri Nov 06, 2009 3:52 pm

That would be some files which are from the third party extension com_community.

Olaf

simonwellsuk · **Joined:** Thu Oct 29, 2009 1:40 pm **Posts:** 23

Thanks Olaf,

Time to start digging harder into the files for com_community.

ianmac · **Posted:** Sun Nov 08, 2009 5:02 am

simonwellsuk wrote:

Thanks again Olaf.

So if I understand this correctly, all joomla php files contain these strings and placeholders.
Having looked and paid a bit more attention to the php side of things, instead of the css and html, I can see these now, but may not understand it all.

Taking the previous code from the en-GB.com_community.ini file

Code:

SEND_MSG_ACTIVATE=Hello %s,\n\nThank you for registering at $s. Your account has been created and must be activated before you can use it.\nTo activate the account click on the following link or copy-&-paste it in your browser:\n%s\n\nAfter activation you may login to %s using the following username and password:\n\nUsername: %s\nPassword: %s

I am now curious to know which file the %s are setup to specify the username, domain, activation link, domain, username, password as seen in that string.

I think what you want to do is specify the optional ordering in your replacement string.

By default, using a series of %s will replace the %s's with the strings in the order that they appear.

But you can also use syntax like %1$s, %2$s, %3$s etc to specify exactly which string you want to display where. To figure out the order of the strings, look at the original string and see what order they are presented.

Hope that helps

Ian

tllcuk · **Joined:** Tue Oct 28, 2008 4:20 pm **Posts:** 60

Thanks Ian,

Yes, i understand.
I can see the order of the string as shown in the example and presumed what the data would be, I just cant find a file that stores all the arrays to which these strings look at.

Thanks

Simon

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