Ever come across _n_noop() and scratched your head? You’re not alone! This function is often overlooked, probably due to its cryptic name and not engaging documentation “Registers plural strings in POT file, but does not translate them”.

We’re all familiar with _n(), which flawlessly handles singular and plural translations based on a given number. But what if you need to register a string for translation when you don’t yet know that number?

That’s precisely where _n_noop() comes in!

Consider custom post statuses. When you register a new status with register_post_status(), you define its labels. For example, “Idea (1)” or “Ideas (20).” At the time of registration, you don’t have the count of posts for that status. This is where _n_noop() steps in to register the plural forms.

WordPress core itself uses _n_noop() for its default post statuses like “draft,” “pending,” and “published.” If you peek into class-wp-posts-list-table.php you’ll see $status->label_count paired with translate_nooped_plural() to correctly translate these strings based on the actual post count.

_n_noop() is WordPress’s hidden gem for plural strings, function that enables proper plural string registration for translation when the numerical context isn’t immediately available.