Internationalization

Valicomb includes built-in support for 22 languages, making it easy to display validation error messages in your users’ preferred language.

Available Languages

Code	Language
ar	Arabic
cs	Czech
da	Danish
de	German
en	English (default)
es	Spanish
fa	Persian (Farsi)
fi	Finnish
fr	French
hu	Hungarian
id	Indonesian
it	Italian
ja	Japanese
nl	Dutch
no	Norwegian
pl	Polish
pt	Portuguese
ru	Russian
sv	Swedish
tr	Turkish
uk	Ukrainian
zh	Chinese

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Setting the Language

Global Setting

Set the language for all Validator instances:

use Frostybee\Valicomb\Validator;

// Set French as default
Validator::lang('fr');

// All new validators use French
$v = new Validator($data);
$v->rule('required', 'email');
// Error: "Email est requis"

Per-Instance Setting

Set language for a specific validator:

// Global default is English
Validator::lang('en');

// This instance uses Spanish
$v = new Validator($data, [], 'es');
$v->rule('required', 'email');
// Error: "Email es requerido"

Getting Current Language

$currentLang = Validator::lang(); // Returns 'en' by default

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Custom Language Directory

Use your own translation files:

// Set custom language directory
Validator::langDir('/path/to/my/translations');

// Then set language
Validator::lang('custom');

Per-Instance Custom Directory

$v = new Validator($data, [], 'en', '/path/to/custom/lang');

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Language File Format

Language files are PHP files returning an associative array:

// lang/en.php
return [
    'required' => '{field} is required',
    'email' => '{field} is not a valid email address',
    'min' => '{field} must be at least {0}',
    'max' => '{field} must be at most {0}',
    'between' => '{field} must be between {0} and {1}',
    // ... more rules
];

Creating Custom Translations

1. Copy an existing language file as a template
2. Translate each message
3. Place in your custom language directory
4. Use langDir() to point to your directory

// my-translations/pt-BR.php
return [
    'required' => '{field} é obrigatório',
    'email' => '{field} não é um endereço de e-mail válido',
    'min' => '{field} deve ser pelo menos {0}',
    // ...
];

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Dynamic Language Selection

Based on User Preference

// Get user's preferred language
$userLang = $_SESSION['language'] ?? 'en';

// Validate with user's language
$v = new Validator($data, [], $userLang);

Based on HTTP Header

// Parse Accept-Language header
$acceptLang = $_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'] ?? 'en';
$lang = substr($acceptLang, 0, 2); // Get first 2 chars

// Fallback if not supported
$supported = ['en', 'es', 'fr', 'de', 'pt'];
if (!in_array($lang, $supported)) {
    $lang = 'en';
}

$v = new Validator($data, [], $lang);

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Message Placeholders

All languages support the same placeholders ({field}, {0}, {1}, etc.). These work consistently across all translations. For complete placeholder documentation, see Error Messages - Message Placeholders.

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Combining with Field Labels

Labels work with any language:

Validator::lang('es');

$v = new Validator(['correo' => '']);
$v->labels(['correo' => 'Correo Electrónico']);
$v->rule('required', 'correo');

$v->validate();
// Error: "Correo Electrónico es requerido"

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Contributing Translations

To contribute a new language or improve existing translations:

1. Fork the repository
2. Copy lang/en.php to lang/{code}.php
3. Translate all messages
4. Submit a pull request

Guidelines:

• Keep placeholders exactly as they are: {field}, {0}, {1}, etc.
• Match the tone and style of the English version
• Test your translations with actual validation