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Merge "Attempt to clarify how pluralization actually works." into jb-mr1-dev

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Elliott Hughes
2012-09-25 16:25:28 -07:00
committed by Android (Google) Code Review
parent 99f19db697 0cd016741d
commit bf5d185800
1 changed files with 16 additions and 8 deletions
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24
docs/html/guide/topics/resources/string-resource.jd
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@@ -13,8 +13,7 @@ your application with strings:</p>
<dt><a href="#StringArray">String Array</a></dt>
<dd>XML resource that provides an array of strings.</dd>
<dt><a href="#Plurals">Quantity Strings (Plurals)</a></dt>
<dd>XML resource that carries different strings for different quantities
of the same word or phrase.</dd>
<dd>XML resource that carries different strings for pluralization.</dd>
</dl>
<p>All strings are capable of applying some styling markup and formatting arguments. For
@@ -231,10 +230,19 @@ so Android provides you with methods such as
{@link android.content.res.Resources#getQuantityString(int,int) getQuantityString()} to select
the appropriate resource for you.
<p>Note that the selection is made based on grammatical necessity. A string for <code>zero</code>
in English will be ignored even if the quantity is 0, because 0 isn't grammatically different
from 2, or any other number except 1 ("zero books", "one book", "two books", and so on).
Don't be misled either by the fact that, say, <code>two</code> sounds like it could only apply to
<p>Although historically called "quantity strings" (and still called that in API), quantity
strings should <i>only</i> be used for plurals. It would be a mistake to use quantity strings to
implement something like Gmail's "Inbox" versus "Inbox (12)" when there are unread messages, for
example. It might seem convenient to use quantity strings instead of an {@code if} statement,
but it's important to note that some languages (such as Chinese) don't make these grammatical
distinctions at all, so you'll always get the <code>other</code> string.
<p>The selection of which string to use is made solely based on grammatical <i>necessity</i>.
In English, a string for <code>zero</code> will be ignored even if the quantity is 0, because 0
isn't grammatically different from 2, or any other number except 1 ("zero books", "one book",
"two books", and so on).
<p>Don't be misled either by the fact that, say, <code>two</code> sounds like it could only apply to
the quantity 2: a language may require that 2, 12, 102 (and so on) are all treated like one
another but differently to other quantities. Rely on your translator to know what distinctions
their language actually insists upon.
@@ -313,7 +321,7 @@ values, with non-exhaustive examples in parentheses:
<td>{@code one}</td><td>When the language requires special treatment of numbers like one (as with the number 1 in English and most other languages; in Russian, any number ending in 1 but not ending in 11 is in this class).</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>{@code two}</td><td>When the language requires special treatment of numbers like two (as in Welsh).</td>
<td>{@code two}</td><td>When the language requires special treatment of numbers like two (as with 2 in Welsh, or 102 in Slovenian).</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>{@code few}</td><td>When the language requires special treatment of "small" numbers (as with 2, 3, and 4 in Czech; or numbers ending 2, 3, or 4 but not 12, 13, or 14 in Polish).</td>
@@ -322,7 +330,7 @@ values, with non-exhaustive examples in parentheses:
<td>{@code many}</td><td>When the language requires special treatment of "large" numbers (as with numbers ending 11-99 in Maltese).</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>{@code other}</td><td>When the language does not require special treatment of the given quantity.</td>
<td>{@code other}</td><td>When the language does not require special treatment of the given quantity (as with all numbers in Chinese, or 42 in English).</td>
</tr>
</table>
</dd>