get_comments_number_text() third argument not used in certain situations

[eclare]

comments_number() is a wrapper for echoing get_comments_number_text().

Reference: ​https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/comments_number

The 3rd parameter's description: Text to display when there is more than one comment. % is replaced by the number of comments, so '% so far' is displayed as "5 so far" when there are five comments.

This doesn't seem to work as expected. In particular, the parser doesn't look just for '%' but also for strings with spaces in front or behind this sign, after which it processes it in a illogical way.

For example, this code

<? _e('Read on', 'anytextdomain');
comments_number(' and add the first comment', ' and see the first comment', ' % so far'); ?>
...

results in: Read on 2 komentarze... ("komentarze is a Polish translation of "comments", which is ok). Where's the "so far" string?

Now another example with text before the % sign:

<? _e('Read on', 'anytextdomain');
comments_number(' and add the first comment', ' and see the first comment', ' and view % comments'); ?>
...

The result is bizarre: Read on2 komentarze...

With some testing it seems that some strings passed as the 3rd argument are being kept, but it's totally illogical and requires review. If this is somehow intended, it should be explained in the Codex. So far, even the Codex example doesn't work as intended. I also checked that I'm not using any comments_num* filters.

Workaround: use get_comments_number() with conditional code.

[earnjam]

This is specific to the Polish translation (or other languages where the comment number translation requires declension).

In those cases, when the 3rd parameter contains a %, it is not used and it just uses a translation of % Comments. This should probably be clarified in the documentation.