Asking for help to understand a '{} item' in a string

[rffontenelle]

{} item in the string below results in what content in the built dnf5? How is it used?

dnf5/dnf5-plugins/copr_plugin/copr_repo.cpp

Lines 375 to 386 in 9111440

	static std::string nth_delimited_item(const std::string & string, size_t n, char separator = ':') {
	std::stringstream ss(string);
	std::string token;
	size_t i = 0;
	while (getline(ss, token, separator)) {
	if (i >= n)
	return token;
	i++;
	}
	std::string msg = libdnf5::utils::sformat(_("Can't find {} item in {}"), n, string);
	throw std::runtime_error(msg);
	}

[ppisar]

libdnf5::utils::sformat() returns a string where {} sequences in the input format string are replaced with a string representation of arguments following the format string. It's a tiny wrapper for fmt library. A syntax of the format string is defined at https://fmt.dev/latest/syntax.html.

E.g. if n=5 and string="foo:bar", then the resulting string saved in msg variable will be Can't find 5 item in foo:bar. This example demonstrates that the message is not a perfect English. Perfect English would read Can't find the 5th item in foo:bar. And 2nd item for n=2 etc. One could fix it with gettext plural forms to cover all possible numbers.

[rffontenelle]

Ordinal number doesn't seem to me as a plural-form scenario. As far as I know, Gettext doesn't support making ordinal out of number (e.g. "1st" from number "1")

How about making it item {} (item 1, item 2, etc.) instead of thr current 1 item (for first), 2 item (for second), etc. ?

[ppisar]

You are right that ordinal numbers in English have a "flection" independent from cardinal numbers. Gettext supports only a single pluralization rule per catalog and that is usually used for cardinal numbers. Placing the number into a postposition is probably the best approach here.

[rffontenelle]

Thanks! I filed the PR #1199 to make it item {}.