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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-31T14:35:51+00:00

If I have to save many strings that are related and that may be

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If I have to save many strings that are related and that may be dividied in different languages: What’s the best way to do it?

I think I have the following options. Option 1 and 3 is the most clear solution to me. They have more columns, but result in fewer rows.

Option 2 and 4 are the most flexible ones (I could dynamically add new string_x without changing the database). They have only three columns but they will result in many rows.

Option 5 would result in many tables.

Option 1:

id | string_1 | string_2 | string_3 | string_4 | ... | string_n | lang

Option 2 *(where name would be string_1 or string_2 etc.)*

id | name | lang

Option 3

id | string_1 | string_2 | string_3 | string_4 | ... | string_n
id | lang     | stringid

Option 4

id | lang | stringid
id | name

Option 5

id | string_1 | lang
id | string_2 | lang
id | ...      |lang

I’m using it to store precached html values for multiple views (one line view, two lines, long description, etc.), if this is of interest.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Option 1 and 3 are not recommended, as you end up with the language (which is data) in the field name. You have to change the database design if you want to add another language.

    Option 5 is not recommended, as you end up with the string identifider (which is data) in the table name. You have to change the database design if you want to add another string.

    Option 2 or 4 would work fine. Option 4 is more normalised, as you don’t have duplicate string names, but option 2 might be easier to work with if you enter values directly into the table view.

    Having many rows in a table is not a problem, that’s what the database system is built for.

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