A string resource provides text strings for your application with optional text styling and formatting. There are three types of resources that can provide your application with strings:
All strings are capable of applying some styling markup and formatting arguments. For information about styling and formatting strings, see the section about Formatting and Styling.
A single string that can be referenced from the application or from other resource files (such as an XML layout).
Note: A string is a simple resource that is referenced using the value provided in the {@code name} attribute (not the name of the XML file). So, you can combine string resources with other simple resources in the one XML file, under one {@code <resources>} element.
res/values/filename.xmlR.string.string_name@string/string_name
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <resources> <string name="string_name" >text_string</string> </resources>
res/values/strings.xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<string name="hello">Hello!</string>
</resources>
This layout XML applies a string to a View:
<TextView
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="@string/hello" />
This application code retrieves a string:
String string = {@link android.content.Context#getString(int) getString}(R.string.hello);
You can use either {@link android.content.Context#getString(int)} or {@link android.content.Context#getText(int)} to retrieve a string. {@link android.content.Context#getText(int)} will retain any rich text styling applied to the string.
An array of strings that can be referenced from the application.
Note: A string array is a simple resource that is referenced using the value provided in the {@code name} attribute (not the name of the XML file). As such, you can combine string array resources with other simple resources in the one XML file, under one {@code <resources>} element.
res/values/filename.xmlR.array.string_array_name
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <resources> <string-array name="string_array_name"> <item >text_string</item> </string-array> </resources>
res/values/strings.xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<string-array name="planets_array">
<item>Mercury</item>
<item>Venus</item>
<item>Earth</item>
<item>Mars</item>
</string-array>
</resources>
This application code retrieves a string array:
Resources res = {@link android.content.Context#getResources()};
String[] planets = res.{@link android.content.res.Resources#getStringArray(int)
getStringArray}(R.array.planets_array);
Different languages have different rules for grammatical agreement with quantity. In English,
for example, the quantity 1 is a special case. We write "1 book", but for any other quantity we'd
write "n books". This distinction between singular and plural is very common, but other
languages make finer distinctions. The full set supported by Android is zero,
one, two, few, many, and other.
The rules for deciding which case to use for a given language and quantity can be very complex, so Android provides you with methods such as {@link android.content.res.Resources#getQuantityString(int,int) getQuantityString()} to select the appropriate resource for you.
Note that the selection is made based on grammatical necessity. A string for zero
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, two 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.
It's often possible to avoid quantity strings by using quantity-neutral formulations such as "Books: 1". This will make your life and your translators' lives easier, if it's a style that's in keeping with your application.
Note: A plurals collection is a simple resource that is referenced using the value provided in the {@code name} attribute (not the name of the XML file). As such, you can combine plurals resources with other simple resources in the one XML file, under one {@code <resources>} element.
res/values/filename.xmlR.plurals.plural_name
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <resources> <plurals name="plural_name"> <item quantity=["zero" | "one" | "two" | "few" | "many" | "other"] >text_string</item> </plurals> </resources>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<plurals name="numberOfSongsAvailable">
<item quantity="one">One song found.</item>
<item quantity="other">%d songs found.</item>
</plurals>
</resources>
XML file saved at {@code res/values-pl/strings.xml}:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<plurals name="numberOfSongsAvailable">
<item quantity="one">Znaleziono jedną piosenkę.</item>
<item quantity="few">Znaleziono %d piosenki.</item>
<item quantity="other">Znaleziono %d piosenek.</item>
</plurals>
</resources>
Java code:
int count = getNumberOfsongsAvailable();
Resources res = {@link android.content.Context#getResources()};
String songsFound = res.{@link android.content.res.Resources#getQuantityString(int,int)
getQuantityString}(R.plurals.numberOfSongsAvailable, count, count);
When using the {@link android.content.res.Resources#getQuantityString(int,int) getQuantityString()} method, you need to pass the {@code count} twice if your string includes string formatting with a number. For example, for the string {@code %d songs found}, the first {@code count} parameter selects the appropriate plural string and the second {@code count} parameter is inserted into the {@code %d} placeholder. If your plural strings do not include string formatting, you don't need to pass the third parameter to {@link android.content.res.Resources#getQuantityString(int,int) getQuantityString}.
Here are a few important things you should know about how to properly format and style your string resources.
If you have an apostrophe or a quote in your string, you must either escape it or enclose the whole string in the other type of enclosing quotes. For example, here are some stings that do and don't work:
<string name="good_example">"This'll work"</string> <string name="good_example_2">This\'ll also work</string> <string name="bad_example">This doesn't work</string> <string name="bad_example_2">XML encodings don't work</string>
If you need to format your strings using {@code 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: {@code %1$s} is a string and {@code %2$d} is a decimal number. You can format the string with arguments from your application like this:
Resources res = {@link android.content.Context#getResources()};
String text = String.format(res.getString(R.string.welcome_messages), username, mailCount);
You can add styling to your strings with HTML markup. For example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<string name="welcome">Welcome to <b>Android</b>!</string>
</resources>
Supported HTML elements include:
Sometimes you may want to create a styled text resource that is also used as a format string. Normally, this won't work because the {@code String.format(String, Object...)} method will strip all the style information from the string. The work-around to this is to write the HTML tags with escaped entities, which are then recovered with {@link android.text.Html#fromHtml(String)}, after the formatting takes place. For example:
<resources> <string name="welcome_messages">Hello, %1$s! You have <b>%2$d new messages</b>.</string> </resources>
In this formatted string, a {@code <b>} element is added. Notice that the opening bracket is HTML-escaped, using the {@code <} notation.
Resources res = {@link android.content.Context#getResources()};
String text = String.format(res.getString(R.string.welcome_messages), username, mailCount);
CharSequence styledText = Html.fromHtml(text);
Because the {@link android.text.Html#fromHtml} method will format all HTML entities, be sure to escape any possible HTML characters in the strings you use with the formatted text, using {@link android.text.TextUtils#htmlEncode}. For instance, if you'll be passing a string argument to {@code String.format()} that may contain characters such as "<" or "&", then they must be escaped before formatting, so that when the formatted string is passed through {@link android.text.Html#fromHtml}, the characters come out the way they were originally written. For example:
String escapedUsername = TextUtil.{@link android.text.TextUtils#htmlEncode htmlEncode}(username);
Resources res = {@link android.content.Context#getResources()};
String text = String.format(res.getString(R.string.welcome_messages), escapedUsername, mailCount);
CharSequence styledText = Html.fromHtml(text);