What is `prefix_default_language` in Django?

The prefix_default_language is a configuration setting in Django's internationalization (i18n) framework that controls URL patterns for multilingual websites. Specifically, it determines whether the default language should be prefixed in URLs.

Context: Django and Multilingual Support

Django has robust support for building multilingual websites, allowing you to define translations for various languages. To manage this, Django uses language codes as URL prefixes (e.g., /en/ for English, /fr/ for French). This approach helps in distinguishing between content in different languages.

What is prefix_default_language?

The prefix_default_language setting in Django determines whether the default language (the language set by LANGUAGE_CODE in your settings) should also be prefixed in URLs.

By default, this setting is True. When prefix_default_language = True, URLs will always include the language prefix, even for the default language. For instance, if English (en) is the default language, URLs might look like this:

• /en/about/ for English
• /fr/about/ for French

If prefix_default_language is set to False, the URLs for the default language will not have the prefix. Using the same example:

• /about/ for English (default language, no prefix)
• /fr/about/ for French (still prefixed)

Why Use prefix_default_language?

This setting is useful for SEO and user experience. If you don't want the default language to have a prefix (for cleaner URLs or other reasons), you can set prefix_default_language to False. This configuration can make URLs less complex and easier to remember for users browsing the site in the default language.

Example Configuration

# settings.py

LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en'
USE_I18N = True
USE_L10N = True
USE_TZ = True

LANGUAGES = [
    ('en', 'English'),
    ('fr', 'French'),
]

MIDDLEWARE = [
    'django.middleware.locale.LocaleMiddleware',
    # other middleware
]

# Control whether the default language should have a URL prefix
PREFIX_DEFAULT_LANGUAGE = False

Summary

The prefix_default_language setting in Django provides control over how URLs are structured for multilingual websites, particularly whether the default language should include a language prefix in the URL. This allows developers to customize URL patterns based on their specific needs for SEO, user experience, and overall site structure.