XML (Android) Format Guide

Ilya Donder

Posted on: 11 July 2025

XML is the standard localization format for native Android applications, using the strings.xml file structure.

Why use XML for Android?

Native Android format — Required for Android Studio and native Android development
Rich metadata support — Comments, descriptions, and context information
Built-in plural handling — Native support for complex plural rules
Resource optimization — Android system optimizes XML resources for performance

Basic structure

Standard strings.xml file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><resources>
    <string name="app_name">MyApp</string>
    <string name="welcome">Welcome to our app!</string>
    <string name="login">Log in</string>
    <string name="signup">Sign up</string></resources>

With comments and descriptions

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><resources>
    <!-- Authentication screen strings -->
    <string name="login_title">Log in to your account</string>
    <string name="email_hint">Enter your email</string>
    
    <!-- Button labels -->
    <string name="btn_submit">Submit</string>
    <string name="btn_cancel">Cancel</string></resources>

Variables and formatting

Simple variables

<string name="welcome_user">Welcome, %s!</string><string name="items_count">You have %d items</string><string name="price_display">Price: $%.2f</string>

Positional arguments

<string name="user_stats">Hello %1$s, you have %2$d messages and %3$d notifications</string>

Named arguments (Android 7.0+)

<string name="welcome_message">Welcome, %s! Today is %s</string>

Plural forms in Android XML

Standard plurals

<plurals name="files_count">
    <item quantity="one">%d file</item>
    <item quantity="other">%d files</item></plurals>

Complex plural rules (for languages like Russian)

<plurals name="files_count">
    <item quantity="one">%d файл</item>
    <item quantity="few">%d файла</item>
    <item quantity="many">%d файлов</item></plurals>

Using plurals in code

// Javaint count = 5;String text = getResources().getQuantityString(R.plurals.files_count, count, count);

// Kotlinval count = 5val text = resources.getQuantityString(R.plurals.files_count, count, count)

Special characters and escaping

Characters that need escaping

<!-- Apostrophes and quotes --><string name="dont_forget">Don\'t forget to save!</string><string name="quoted_text">He said \"Hello world\"</string>

<!-- HTML entities --><string name="copyright">Copyright © 2024</string><string name="less_than">Value &lt; 100</string><string name="greater_than">Value &gt; 50</string><string name="ampersand">Tom &amp; Jerry</string>

New lines and formatting

<!-- Line breaks --><string name="multiline_text">Line 1\nLine 2\nLine 3</string>

<!-- Preserving spaces --><string name="spaced_text">"  This text has spaces  "</string>

<!-- HTML formatting (if supported by your app) --><string name="formatted_text"><b>Bold</b> and <i>italic</i> text</string>

Special Android escapes

<!-- Literal backslash --><string name="path">C:\\Users\\Name</string>

<!-- Unicode characters --><string name="unicode_symbol">\u00A9</string>

<!-- Prevent processing --><string name="raw_text" translatable="false">%s %d %f</string>

Android-specific attributes

Translatable attribute

<!-- Mark strings as non-translatable --><string name="api_key" translatable="false">sk_test_123456789</string><string name="debug_tag" translatable="false">DEBUG</string>

<!-- Default is translatable="true" --><string name="user_message">Hello user!</string>

Formatted attribute

<!-- Disable formatting for performance --><string name="simple_text" formatted="false">Simple text without formatting</string>

<!-- Enable formatting (default) --><string name="formatted_text" formatted="true">Welcome, %s!</string>

File organization

Directory structure

res/
├── values/
│   └── strings.xml          (default language)
├── values-es/
│   └── strings.xml          (Spanish)
├── values-fr/
│   └── strings.xml          (French)
└── values-ru/
    └── strings.xml          (Russian)

Multiple string files

<!-- strings.xml (main strings) --><?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><resources>
    <string name="app_name">MyApp</string></resources>

<!-- strings_errors.xml (error messages) --><?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><resources>
    <string name="error_network">Network error</string>
    <string name="error_validation">Invalid input</string></resources>

Working with XML in Localit.io

Upload process

Select XML (Android) format during file upload
System automatically recognizes string and plural elements
Comments are preserved and available to translators
Enable "Convert to universal placeholders" for multi-platform projects

Key recognition

Localit.io automatically handles:

Regular strings: <string name="key">value</string>
Plural forms: <plurals name="key"><item quantity="one">...</item></plurals>
Comments: Preserved as translator context
Attributes: Translatable and formatted attributes

Export options

When exporting to Android XML:

Preserve structure — Maintains original XML formatting
Include comments — Adds translator notes as XML comments
Handle plurals — Automatically formats plural rules correctly
Escape characters — Properly escapes special characters

Best practices

Organize strings by feature

✅ Good organization:
<!-- Authentication --><string name="auth_login_title">Log in</string><string name="auth_signup_title">Sign up</string><string name="auth_forgot_password">Forgot password?</string>

<!-- Navigation --><string name="nav_home">Home</string><string name="nav_profile">Profile</string><string name="nav_settings">Settings</string>

Use consistent naming conventions

✅ Consistent naming:
<string name="button_save">Save</string><string name="button_cancel">Cancel</string><string name="error_network">Network error</string><string name="error_validation">Validation error</string>

❌ Inconsistent naming:
<string name="save_btn">Save</string><string name="cancel">Cancel</string><string name="network_error">Network error</string><string name="validationErr">Validation error</string>

Add meaningful comments

✅ Helpful comments:
<!-- Shown when user successfully completes purchase --><string name="purchase_success">Thank you for your purchase!</string>

<!-- Error displayed when network is unavailable (max 50 chars) --><string name="error_offline">No internet connection</string>

Handle screen size constraints

<!-- Different strings for different screen sizes --><string name="welcome_message">Welcome to our application!</string><string name="welcome_message_short">Welcome!</string>

Advanced Android features

String arrays

<string-array name="countries">
    <item>United States</item>
    <item>Canada</item>
    <item>United Kingdom</item>
    <item>Germany</item></string-array>

Quantity strings with complex formatting

<plurals name="download_progress">
    <item quantity="one">%1$d of %2$d file downloaded</item>
    <item quantity="other">%1$d of %2$d files downloaded</item></plurals>