Module:I18n/doc

I18n
Description	Library for message storage in Lua datastores.
Author(s)	KockaAdmiralac (original Fandom implementation); Speedit (original Fandom implementation); Awesome Aasim (Wikimedia port);
Updated	November 9, 2026 (12 hours ago)
Dependencies	Module:Entrypoint; Module:Fallbacklist;
Using code by	Cqm

This is a documentation subpage for Module:I18n (see that page for the module itself).
It contains usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original module page.

This module depends on the following other modules:

I18n library for message storage in Lua datastores. The module is designed to enable message separation from modules & templates. It has support for handling language fallbacks. This module is a Lua port of wikia:dev:I18n-js and i18n modules that can be loaded by it are editable through wikia:dev:I18nEdit.

On Wikimedia projects, i18n messages are editable through Data:i18n/ subpages on Wikimedia Commons.

Documentation

Package items

i18n.getMsg( frame ) (function)

Localized message getter by key. Can be used to fetch messages in a specific language code through uselang parameter. Extra numbered parameters can be supplied for substitution into the datastore message.

Parameters:

frame Frame table from invocation. (table)

frame.args Metatable containing arguments. (table)

frame.args[1] ROOTPAGENAME of i18n submodule. (string; optional)

frame.args[2] Key of i18n message. (string; optional)

frame.args.lang Default language of message. (string; optional)

Error: 'missing arguments in i18n.getMsg' (line 271)

Returns: I18n message in localised language. (string)

i18n.loadMessages( ... ) (function)

I18n message datastore loader.

Parameter: ... ROOTPAGENAME/path for target i18n submodules. (string)

Error: 'no source supplied to i18n.loadMessages' (line 322)

Returns: I18n datastore instance. (table)

Usage: require('Module:I18n').loadMessages('1', '2')

i18n.getLang() (function)

Language code getter. Can validate a template's language code through uselang parameter.

Returns: Language code. (string)

i18n.loadI18n( name, i18n_arg ) (function)

Given an i18n table instantiates the values (deprecated)

Parameters:

name name of module with i18n (string)

i18n_arg existing i18n (table)

i18n.loadI18nFrame( name, i18n_arg ) (function)

Loads an i18n for a specific frame (deprecated)

Parameters:

name name of module with i18n (string)

i18n_arg existing i18n (table)

i18n.main( frame ) (function): Wrapper for the module.; Parameter: frame Frame invocation object. (table); Returns: Module output in template context. (string); Usage: {{#invoke:i18n|main}}
_i18n.isWikitext( msg ) (function): Checks whether a message contains unprocessed wikitext. Used to optimise message getter by not preprocessing pure text.; Parameter: msg Message to check. (string); Returns: Whether the message contains wikitext. (boolean)

`Data`

I18n datastore class. This is used to control language translation and access to individual messages. The datastore instance provides language and message getter-setter methods, which can be used to internationalize Lua modules. The language methods (any ending in Lang) are all chainable.

Data:msg( opts, ... ) (function)

Datastore message getter utility. This method returns localized messages from the datastore corresponding to a key. These messages may have $n parameters, which can be replaced by optional argument strings supplied by the msg call.

This function supports named arguments. The named argument syntax is more versatile despite its verbosity; it can be used to select message language & source(s).

Parameters:

opts Message configuration or key. (string|table)

opts.key Message key to return from the datastore. (string; optional)

opts.args Arguments to substitute into the message ($n). (table; optional)

opts.sources Source names to limit to (see Data:fromSources). (table; optional)

opts.lang Temporary language to use (see Data:inLang). (table; optional)

... Arguments to substitute into the message ($n). (string; optional)

Error: 'missing arguments in Data:msg' (line 115)

Returns: Localised datastore message or '<key>'. (string)

Usage:

ds:msg{
		  key = 'message-name',
		  lang = '',
		  args = {...},
		  sources = {}
	  }

ds:msg('message-name', ...)

Data:parameter( parameter, args ) (function)

Datastore template parameter getter utility. This method, given a table of arguments, tries to find a parameter's localized name in the datastore and returns its value, or nil if not present.

This method always uses the wiki's content language.

Parameters:

parameter Parameter's key in the datastore (string)

args Arguments to find the parameter in (table)

Error: 'missing arguments in Data:parameter' (line 176)

Returns: Parameter's value or nil if not present (string|nil)

Data:fromSource( ... ) (function)

Datastore temporary source setter to a specificed subset of datastores. By default, messages are fetched from the datastore in the same order of priority as i18n.loadMessages.

Parameter: ... Source name(s) to use. (string)

Returns: Datastore instance. (Data)

Data:getLang() (function)