Find Missing Translations
Overview
Extract string resource keys from the default values/strings.xml that are absent in a target locale's strings.xml, excluding non-translatable entries. Outputs missing keys and offers to translate them.
When to Use
- Need to find untranslated strings for a specific locale
- Preparing a batch of strings for a translator
- Checking translation coverage after adding new features
Target Locales
The default set of locales (unless the user specifies otherwise):
| Locale | Language | Directory |
|--------|----------|-----------|
| cs-rCZ | Czech | values-cs-rCZ |
| pt-rBR | Brazilian Portuguese | values-pt-rBR |
| sv-rSE | Swedish | values-sv-rSE |
| de-rDE | German | values-de-rDE |
Technique
1. Identify files
Default: amethyst/src/main/res/values/strings.xml
Target: amethyst/src/main/res/values-<locale>/strings.xml
2. Find missing keys using cs-rCZ as reference
Always diff against cs-rCZ first — it is the most complete locale and serves as the reference. Any keys missing in cs-rCZ will also be missing in the other target locales.
# Extract translatable keys from default (exclude translatable="false")
comm -23 \
<(grep '<string name=' amethyst/src/main/res/values/strings.xml \
| grep -v 'translatable="false"' \
| sed 's/.*name="\([^"]*\)".*/\1/' | sort) \
<(grep '<string name=' amethyst/src/main/res/values-cs-rCZ/strings.xml \
| sed 's/.*name="\([^"]*\)".*/\1/' | sort)
This gives the list of missing key names. Do NOT diff each locale separately — assume the same keys are missing in all target locales.
3. Get English values for missing keys
For each missing key, extract its English value:
# For each missing key, extract the full line from default strings.xml
while IFS= read -r key; do
grep "name=\"$key\"" amethyst/src/main/res/values/strings.xml
done < <(comm -23 \
<(grep '<string name=' amethyst/src/main/res/values/strings.xml \
| grep -v 'translatable="false"' \
| sed 's/.*name="\([^"]*\)".*/\1/' | sort) \
<(grep '<string name=' amethyst/src/main/res/values-cs-rCZ/strings.xml \
| sed 's/.*name="\([^"]*\)".*/\1/' | sort))
4. Present results and ask to translate
Output the missing entries as raw XML resource lines (copy-paste ready):
<string name="attestation_valid">Valid</string>
<string name="attestation_valid_from">Valid from %1$s</string>
<string name="feed_group_lists">Lists</string>
Also check <string-array> and <plurals> tags using the same approach if the project uses them.
Then ask the user: "Would you like me to translate these missing strings into [list of target locales]?"
5. Adding translations (if approved)
When adding translated strings to locale files:
- Append new strings at the bottom of the file, just before the closing
</resources>tag. - Do NOT try to insert them in alphabetical or matching order — a separate process handles ordering.
Common Mistakes
- Forgetting
translatable="false"— these should never appear in locale files - Not checking string-arrays/plurals — only checking
<string>misses other resource types - Diffing each locale separately — only diff against
cs-rCZ; assume the same keys are missing everywhere - Inserting strings in a specific position — always append at the bottom; ordering is handled separately