esc_html Line break

Question

I've been trying to figure this out for a while and I can't seem to figure it out using <br> or \n but not sure where to place it. I've got this php line for email results and I want to place a line break in between the sentences. No matter what I try it crashes the site.

Here is the line:

'post_alert_user' => esc_html__('Thank you for your submission at ', 'usp-pro') .$user['admin_name'] . esc_html__('! If submissions require approval, you'll receive an email once it's approved.', 'usp-pro'),

So basically, I want the email results to look like this instead of running all in one line:

Thank you for your submission at HIV Heros!

If submissions require approval, you'll receive an email once it's approved.

Answer 1

You are using single quotation in single quotation which is not possible, use one of the below approch,

Approch 1 (' \' '):

'post_alert_user' => esc_html__('Thank you for your submission at ', 'usp-pro') .$user['admin_name'] . esc_html__('! If submissions require approval, you\'ll receive an email once it\'s approved.', 'usp-pro'),

Approch 2 (" ' "):

'post_alert_user' => esc_html__('Thank you for your submission at ', 'usp-pro') .$user['admin_name'] . esc_html__("! If submissions require approval, you'll receive an email once it's approved.", 'usp-pro'),

Answer 2

You have few issues with your string trnalation.

1. Any of esc_html* function will escape html tabs, so you can't directly use line brake <br> and \n will be ignored too if it's a html email.
2. Concatenate string will brake translation (E.G. to RTL) in different language.
3. And an unescaped single quote (') symbol. You can wrap your string with double quote (") or use escape character (E.G. 'you\'ll receive').

To fix everything it's recommended to use printf() or sprintf() function with appropriate placeholders and translators comment.

You can also use wp_kses() or wp_kses_post() to output strings with html tags. Keep in mind kses functions are slow.

Examples:

$data = [
    // ...
    'post_alert_user' => sprintf(
        /* translators: 1. Admin Name, 2. Line brake (br tag) */
        esc_html__('Thank you for your submission at %1$s!%2$sIf submissions require approval, you\'ll receive an email once it\'s approved.', 'usp-pro'),
        esc_html( $user['admin_name'] ),
        '<br>'
    ),
    // ...
];