Translation Memory (TM) in Transifex ignores placeholders from Fill-Ups and Suggestions for source strings in Android, iOS, and other file formats. This ensures platform-specific placeholder differences do not affect 100% of text matches, providing consistent and accurate results.

Case #1: Transifex standardizes placeholders, ensuring consistency in translation, even when placeholder formats differ. For example:

The text "Hello <placeholder> you have <placeholder>/<placeholder> calls" is treated as identical in both apps, even with different placeholder formats. If one version is translated, Transifex will automatically apply the translation to the other (if fill-ups are enabled) and return a 100% TM match in the editor.

Case #2: When comparing a string with placeholders to one without, even if the translatable text is identical, they are treated as different. For example:

The first two are treated as a 100% match, while the last is not due to the absence of placeholders.

Case #3: Textual differences (e.g., punctuation) when placeholders are present. For example:

The actual translatable text in the two strings differs due to the presence of the exclamation mark ("!") at the end of the second string. For fuzzy text matches, the system takes placeholders into account when determining the best match.

Transifex uses placeholder patterns to detect variables in translation strings. These placeholders often depend on the platform or language the file is designed for. Below, we outline placeholder groups, which represent common patterns across platforms and formats. This approach allows for flexibility, acknowledging that some file formats (e.g., XLIFF) may support multiple groups depending on their use case (e.g., iOS vs. Android). The following table organizes the groups, file formats, and their respective placeholders:

File Format: XLIFF

Platform: iOS

String in Source Language:

Placeholder Detected: %@

Explanation: In this case, the placeholder %@ indicates that the string originates from an Apple-specific context (e.g., iOS or macOS). Placeholders like %@ are typical for Apple platforms because they are used in Objective-C and Swift for dynamically substituting variables (e.g., user names or other content).

How it works: The detection logic in Transifex identifies the %@ placeholder pattern and associates the string with Group 1: Apple-Specific Formats, regardless of the file type. Even though the file format is XLIFF, the placeholder %@ is what determines that the string belongs to Group 1.

File Format: XLIFF

Platform: Android

String in Source Language:
​

Placeholder Detected: %1$s\

Explanation:
The placeholder %1$s is a format string commonly used in Android development (Java or Kotlin). It allows dynamic substitution of strings, such as inserting a price or other content into a sentence.

How it works: Transifex detects the placeholder %1$s and classifies the string under Group 2: JSON, PHP-Based Formats, Android, and XLIFF.
Here, the placeholder pattern—not the file type—determines the group. Although XLIFF is a general-purpose file format, the content's platform-specific usage (Android) defines the placeholder style.