> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.elentra.org/ejs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.elentra.org/ejs/1.3/guide/internationalization/escl/concepts/string-resources.md).

# Strings

## Introduction

The most basic element supported by ESCL is a plain **string**.  A string represents a line of text containing any character supported by the current locale, and may also include [clauses](/ejs/1.3/guide/internationalization/escl/concepts/clauses.md) to enable dynamic processing.

{% hint style="info" %}

#### Naming Convention

String identifiers must be lower case, alphanumeric, begin with a letter, and may include underscores (e.g. `my_string_identifier`).
{% endhint %}

## Simple strings

In this example, the `hello_message` identifier represents the string `Hello, World!`.  This string requires no processing or formatting and will be returned verbatim.

```javascript
hello_message: `Hello, World!`
```

## Compound strings

A **compound string** is a string that is constructed by combining one or more strings.  Using a [clause](/ejs/1.3/guide/internationalization/escl/concepts/clauses.md), we can pass in the identifier of another string to insert it in place.  Each string is processed independently before being combined.

In this example, `tos_message` will become `Please accept our Terms of Service` for **en-US** and  `Accepter nos conditions d'utilisation, s'il vous plaît` for **fr-CA**.

{% code title="en-US.js" %}

```javascript
tos_name: `Terms of Service`,
tos_message: `Please accept our { tos_name }`
```

{% endcode %}

{% code title="fr-CA.js" %}

```javascript
tos_name: `conditions d'utilisation`,
tos_message: `Accepter nos { tos_name }, s'il vous plaît`
```

{% endcode %}

{% hint style="info" %}
Notice how the translation of `tos_message` is rearranged in French?   This is possible because the concatenation isn't hard-coded in our application but is instead handled with a compound string.
{% endhint %}

## Aliases

An **alias** is a string that contains a single [clause](/ejs/1.3/guide/internationalization/escl/concepts/clauses.md) which references another string without any additions or modifications.

```javascript
hello_message: `Hello, World!`,
hi_message: `{ hello_message }`
```