Using Trans inside a Plural macro unexpectedly replaces "#" found in variables

[kiejo]

Describe the bug
Using Trans with the Plural macro can lead to variables being rendered in a modified way. It should be possible for a variable to contain "#" without it being replaced with the value of the Plural macro.

To Reproduce
Define a component, which uses a nested Trans within the Plural macro:

import {Plural, Trans} from '@lingui/macro'

function Notification({count, documentTitle}) {
  return (
    <p>
      <Plural
        value={count}
        one={<Trans>There is a notification in <span>{documentTitle}</span></Trans>}
        other={<Trans>There are # notifications in <span>{documentTitle}</span></Trans>}
      />
    </p>
  )
}

Expected behavior
Rendering the component using this code:

<Notification
  count={1}
  documentTitle="Title #1"
/>

Should result in

<p>There is a notification in <span>Title #1</span></p>`

but it generates

<p>There is a notification in <span>Title 11</span></p>

As you can see, the "#" found in the documentTitle variable is replaced with the count "1". It renders as Title 11 instead of Title #1.

I think the expected behavior is to leave variables untouched and render them as is. Only hashtags that are directly part of the translation string should be replaced.

Additional context

• jsLingui version 4.6.0
• Babel version 7.23.3
• I'm using Babel with babel-macro-plugin

[jozefmery]

Hi, I investigated this issue and I believe the core of the issue is that the interpolation here runs before the replaceOctothorpe function that uses the String#replace method. By interpolating first, there is no easy way of knowing where the # originated from in the component hierarchy. Furthermore, by using the String#replace method, only the first occurence is replaced as the provided # pattern here is a string. Currently, there is no escape hatch for the replacement of the # symbol that I know of.

To solve this issue I propose the following: Remove the # related behavior entirely

I believe that a better and simpler solution to include the actual number in a plural sentence is to use the well-established templating approach of Lingui (e.g.: There are ${count} apples). replaceOctothorpe additionally formats the number for you (number style by default), but you may do that as you would anywhere else: There are ${i18n.number(count, ...)} apples. This approach covers more (albeit edge-case) use-case as it allows you to include the number any times, and eliminates the issues related to a bespoke templating systems that sort of goes against the philosophy of the library.

I would love to hear your feedback and please let me know if I missed anything.

[timofei-iatsenko]

Thanks for digging into the issue, the "octothorpe" symbol is part of ICU messages spec, so that's why there are here.

[jozefmery]

Thank you for the rapid response. You are correct I did not consider that, so the replacing of the # is correct, except I believe every instance should be replaced. Furthmore, literal # and any other special symbols are supported by enclosing them in single quotes '#' and a single quote is represented by two consecutive ones ''. It is described here. You can check out this online editor.

[timofei-iatsenko]

will be fixed by #1850

[kiejo]

Thanks for fixing this! I'm looking forward to the release which will include the fix :)