Understanding the significance of underscores in JavaScript strings

Some places mention using _() around strings like _('some string').

For instance, in a desktop program with these imports:

const Applet = imports.ui.applet;
const St = imports.gi.St;
const Gdk = imports.gi.Gdk;
const Gtk = imports.gi.Gtk;
const Keymap = Gdk.Keymap.get_default();
const Caribou = imports.gi.Caribou;
const PopupMenu = imports.ui.popupMenu;
const Lang = imports.lang;
const Gio = imports.gi.Gio;
const Main = imports.ui.main;
const MessageTray = imports.ui.messageTray;

What purpose does this function serve?

javascriptlinux

Answer №1

There are endless possibilities when it comes to defining variables in programming. Take for example the popular underscore library, which revolves around using _ as a standard variable/function/class name.

_ is not a special character, just like i, a, and others.

Here's an illustration:

_('test')
//ReferenceError: _ is not defined

function _(str){
    console.log(str);
}

_('test')
//Output: test

In many cases, if not utilizing underscore.js, this one-character variable might be used for a frequently accessed function.

Note: As mentioned by @Xedecimal and @AliTorabi, it is also commonly employed to label a function that serves as a translator for internationalization due to its brevity and frequent usage.

Answer №2

JavaScript does not come with a built-in _ function, but you can create one yourself or use an external library.

const _ = (str) => str.split('').join('_')
_("hello") // "h_e_l_l_o"

Answer №3

After receiving some feedback, I have come to a conclusion on my own query. (I was already aware that _ is just a regular function name, so that wasn't the issue).

Based on the imports shown, it appears to be part of a built-in system library. Specifically this:

const Lang = imports.lang;

This code is utilized for automatically translating strings into different languages. For instance:

_('Hello') //Hola

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