Is it possible to have placeholders in string values in string.xml
that can be assigned values at run time?
Example:
some string PLACEHOLDER1 some more string
Is it possible to have placeholders in string values in string.xml
that can be assigned values at run time?
Example:
some string PLACEHOLDER1 some more string
Yes, see the following from String Resources: Formatting and Styling
If you need to format your strings using
String.format(String, Object...)
, then you can do so by putting your format arguments in the string resource. For example, with the following resource:<string name="welcome_messages">Hello, %1$s! You have %2$d new messages.</string>
In this example, the format string has two arguments:
%1$s
is a string and%2$d
is a decimal number. You can format the string with arguments from your application like this:Resources res = getResources(); String text = String.format(res.getString(R.string.welcome_messages), username, mailCount);
Note that getString
has an overload that uses the string as a format string:
String text = res.getString(R.string.welcome_messages, username, mailCount);
If you need to handle plurals, use this:
<plurals name="welcome_messages">
<item quantity="one">Hello, %1$s! You have a new message.</item>
<item quantity="other">Hello, %1$s! You have %2$d new messages.</item>
</plurals>
The first mailCount
param is used to decide which format to use (single or plural), the other params are your substitutions:
Resources res = getResources();
String text = res.getQuantityString(R.plurals.welcome_messages, mailCount, username, mailCount);
See String Resources: Plurals for more details.
When I first saw %1$s
and %2$d
in the accepted answer, it made no sense. Here is a little more explanation.
They are called format specifiers. In the xml string they are in the form of
%[parameter_index$][format_type]
1$
, 2$
, and 3$
. The order you place them in the resource string doesn't matter, only the order that you supply the parameters.format type: There are a lot of ways that you can format things (see the documentation). Here are some common ones:
s
stringd
decimal integerf
floating point numberWe will create the following formatted string where the gray parts are inserted programmatically.
My sister
Mary
is12
years old.
string.xml
<string name="my_xml_string">My sister %1$s is %2$d years old.</string>
MyActivity.java
String myString = "Mary";
int myInt = 12;
String formatted = getString(R.string.my_xml_string, myString, myInt);
getString
because I was in an Activity. You can use context.getResources().getString(...)
if it is not available.String.format()
will also format a String.1$
and 2$
terms don't need to be used in that order. That is, 2$
can come before 1$
. This is useful when internationalizing an app for languages that use a different word order.%1$s
multiple times in the xml if you want to repeat it.%%
to get the actual %
character.When you want to use a parameter from the actual strings.xml file without using any Java code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE resources [
<!ENTITY appname "WhereDat">
<!ENTITY author "Oded">
]>
<resources>
<string name="app_name">&appname;</string>
<string name="description">The &appname; app was created by &author;</string>
</resources>
This does not work across resource files, i.e. variables must be copied into each XML file that needs them.
Was looking for the same and finally found the following very simple solution. Best: it works out of the box.
1. alter your string ressource:
<string name="welcome_messages">Hello, <xliff:g name="name">%s</xliff:g>! You have
<xliff:g name="count">%d</xliff:g> new messages.</string>
2. use string substitution:
c.getString(R.string.welcome_messages,name,count);
where c is the Context, name is a string variable and count your int variable
You'll need to include
<resources xmlns:xliff="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
in your res/strings.xml. Works for me. :)
However, you should also read Elias Mårtenson's answer on Android plurals treatment of “zero”. There is a problem with the interpretation of certain values such as "zero".
In Kotlin you just need to set your string value like this:
<string name="song_number_and_title">"%1$d ~ %2$s"</string>
Create a text view on your layout:
<TextView android:id="@+id/song_number_and_title"/>
Then do this in your code if you using Anko:
val song = database.use { // get your song from the database }
song_number_and_title.setText(resources.getString(R.string.song_number_and_title, song.number, song.title))
You might need to get your resources from the application context.
in res/values/string.xml
<resources>
<string name="app_name">Hello World</string>
<string name="my_application">Application name: %s, package name: %s</string>
</resources>
in java code
String[] args = new String[2];
args[0] = context.getString(R.string.app_name);
args[1] = context.getPackageName();
String textMessage = context.getString(R.string.my_application,(Object[]) args);
Kotlin version of the accepted answer...
val res = resources
val text = String.format(res.getString(R.string.welcome_messages), username, mailCount)
You can use MessageFormat
<string name="customer_address">Wellcome: {0} {1}</string>
In Java code :
String text =MessageFormat(R.string.customer_address).format("Name","Family");
API level 1:
https://developer.android.com/reference/java/text/MessageFormat.html