bash localization won't work with multilines strings (with strong syntax or through `eval`)

Question

There is a nice feature in bash, about localization (language translation):

TEXTDOMAIN=coreutils
LANG=fr_CH.utf8
echo $\"system boot\"
démarrage système
         


        

Answer 1

If using eval is bad with arbitrary variables, there is a way to do this only when called/needed, in running eval only on message part:

function lPrintf() {
    local sFormat="$(
        eval 'echo $"'"${1}"'"'.
    )"
    shift
    printf "${sFormat%.}" $@
}

lPrintf "system boot"
démarrage système

lPrintf  $'Written by %s, %s, %s,\nand %s.\n' techno moi lui-même bibi
Écrit par techno, moi, lui-même,
et bibi.

( The dot at end of translated string ensure that whole string, including leading line-break, where passed to variable sFormat. They will be dropped with ${sFormat%.} )