get(identifier, count, placeholder1...n)

This function takes a string parameter which it uses as an identifier to look up and return a localized string in the locale currently set for Firefox. Localized strings are supplied by the add-on developer in .properties files stored in the add-ons "locale" directory.

The gettext tools uses "_" for the name of the function that retrieves localized strings. For compatibility with tools that expect this syntax, you can assign this function to "_":

var _ = require("l10n").get;

Given a .properties file for the current locale containing an entry like:

hello_string= Hello!

and the following code:

var _ = require("l10n").get;
console.log(_("hello_string"));

the following output will be logged:

info: Hello!

If this function can't find the string referenced by the identifier parameter, it returns the identifier itself. This enables you to write functional, localizable code without localizing any strings - just make the identifiers the default language:

var _ = require("l10n").get;
console.log(_("Hello!"));

However, this will make it more difficult to maintain your code if you have many localizations, because any changes to the identifier values break all your .properties files.

If you're supplying different localizations for a string depending on the number of items (that is, whether to use a singular or plural form) then get() takes a second integer parameter which indicates the number of items there are.

You can supply one or more placeholders to get(), which are strings, such as proper names, that should not be translated themselves but instead should be inserted into the translated string.

You can't use plurals and placeholders in the same expression: if you do, the placeholders will be ignored.

var _ = require("l10n").get;
console.log(_("child_id", 1));
console.log(_("child_id", 2));

var _ = require("l10n").get;
console.log(_("home_town", "Alan", "Norwich"));