diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index fdd63adc..7c163939 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 - MySQL: Display number of found rows in group queries (regression from 5.1.1)
 - non-MySQL: Parse '--' without trailing space as comment in SQL command (bug SF-842)
 - CSS: Add logo
+- Plugins: Allow formatting translations using Adminer\lang_format()
 - New plugin: Set up driver, server and database in Adminer Editor
 
 ## Adminer 5.1.1 (released 2025-04-02)
diff --git a/adminer/include/lang.inc.php b/adminer/include/lang.inc.php
index 71b81713..0c537631 100644
--- a/adminer/include/lang.inc.php
+++ b/adminer/include/lang.inc.php
@@ -1,7 +1,48 @@
 <?php
 namespace Adminer;
 
-// not used in a single language version
+/** Translate string
+* @param literal-string $idf
+* @param float|string $number
+*/
+function lang(string $idf, $number = null): string {
+	// this is matched by compile.php
+	$args = func_get_args();
+	$args[0] = Lang::$translations[$idf] ?: $idf;
+	return call_user_func_array('Adminer\lang_format', $args);
+}
+
+/** Format translation, usable also by plugins
+* @param string|list<string> $translation
+* @param float|string $number
+*/
+function lang_format($translation, $number = null): string {
+	if (is_array($translation)) {
+		// this is matched by compile.php
+		$pos = ($number == 1 ? 0
+			: (LANG == 'cs' || LANG == 'sk' ? ($number && $number < 5 ? 1 : 2) // different forms for 1, 2-4, other
+			: (LANG == 'fr' ? (!$number ? 0 : 1) // different forms for 0-1, other
+			: (LANG == 'pl' ? ($number % 10 > 1 && $number % 10 < 5 && $number / 10 % 10 != 1 ? 1 : 2) // different forms for 1, 2-4 except 12-14, other
+			: (LANG == 'sl' ? ($number % 100 == 1 ? 0 : ($number % 100 == 2 ? 1 : ($number % 100 == 3 || $number % 100 == 4 ? 2 : 3))) // different forms for 1, 2, 3-4, other
+			: (LANG == 'lt' ? ($number % 10 == 1 && $number % 100 != 11 ? 0 : ($number % 10 > 1 && $number / 10 % 10 != 1 ? 1 : 2)) // different forms for 1, 12-19, other
+			: (LANG == 'lv' ? ($number % 10 == 1 && $number % 100 != 11 ? 0 : ($number ? 1 : 2)) // different forms for 1 except 11, other, 0
+			: (in_array(LANG, array('bs', 'ru', 'sr', 'uk')) ? ($number % 10 == 1 && $number % 100 != 11 ? 0 : ($number % 10 > 1 && $number % 10 < 5 && $number / 10 % 10 != 1 ? 1 : 2)) // different forms for 1 except 11, 2-4 except 12-14, other
+			: 1)))))))) // different forms for 1, other
+		; // http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/html_node/Plural-forms.html
+		$translation = $translation[$pos];
+	}
+	$translation = str_replace("'", '’', $translation); // translations can contain HTML or be used in optionlist (we couldn't escape them here) but they can also be used e.g. in title='' //! escape plaintext translations
+	$args = func_get_args();
+	array_shift($args);
+	$format = str_replace("%d", "%s", $translation);
+	if ($format != $translation) {
+		$args[0] = format_number($number);
+	}
+	return vsprintf($format, $args);
+}
+
+// this is matched by compile.php
+// not used in a single language version from here
 
 /** Get available languages
 * @return string[]
@@ -56,37 +97,6 @@ function langs(): array {
 	);
 }
 
-/** Translate string
-* @param literal-string $idf
-* @param float|string $number
-*/
-function lang(string $idf, $number = null): string {
-	// this is matched by compile.php
-	$translation = (Lang::$translations[$idf] ?: $idf);
-	if (is_array($translation)) {
-		// this is matched by compile.php
-		$pos = ($number == 1 ? 0
-			: (LANG == 'cs' || LANG == 'sk' ? ($number && $number < 5 ? 1 : 2) // different forms for 1, 2-4, other
-			: (LANG == 'fr' ? (!$number ? 0 : 1) // different forms for 0-1, other
-			: (LANG == 'pl' ? ($number % 10 > 1 && $number % 10 < 5 && $number / 10 % 10 != 1 ? 1 : 2) // different forms for 1, 2-4 except 12-14, other
-			: (LANG == 'sl' ? ($number % 100 == 1 ? 0 : ($number % 100 == 2 ? 1 : ($number % 100 == 3 || $number % 100 == 4 ? 2 : 3))) // different forms for 1, 2, 3-4, other
-			: (LANG == 'lt' ? ($number % 10 == 1 && $number % 100 != 11 ? 0 : ($number % 10 > 1 && $number / 10 % 10 != 1 ? 1 : 2)) // different forms for 1, 12-19, other
-			: (LANG == 'lv' ? ($number % 10 == 1 && $number % 100 != 11 ? 0 : ($number ? 1 : 2)) // different forms for 1 except 11, other, 0
-			: (in_array(LANG, array('bs', 'ru', 'sr', 'uk')) ? ($number % 10 == 1 && $number % 100 != 11 ? 0 : ($number % 10 > 1 && $number % 10 < 5 && $number / 10 % 10 != 1 ? 1 : 2)) // different forms for 1 except 11, 2-4 except 12-14, other
-			: 1)))))))) // different forms for 1, other
-		; // http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/html_node/Plural-forms.html
-		$translation = $translation[$pos];
-	}
-	$translation = str_replace("'", '’', $translation); // translations can contain HTML or be used in optionlist (we couldn't escape them here) but they can also be used e.g. in title='' //! escape plaintext translations
-	$args = func_get_args();
-	array_shift($args);
-	$format = str_replace("%d", "%s", $translation);
-	if ($format != $translation) {
-		$args[0] = format_number($number);
-	}
-	return vsprintf($format, $args);
-}
-
 function switch_lang(): void {
 	echo "<form action='' method='post'>\n<div id='lang'>";
 	echo lang('Language') . ": " . html_select("lang", langs(), LANG, "this.form.submit();");
diff --git a/compile.php b/compile.php
index fc5c44da..e7a79d18 100755
--- a/compile.php
+++ b/compile.php
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ function remove_lang($match) {
 	$idf = strtr($match[2], array("\\'" => "'", "\\\\" => "\\"));
 	$s = (Adminer\Lang::$translations[$idf] ?: $idf);
 	if ($match[3] == ",") { // lang() has parameters
-		return $match[1] . (is_array($s) ? "lang(array('" . implode("', '", array_map('add_apo_slashes', $s)) . "')," : "sprintf('" . add_apo_slashes($s) . "',");
+		return $match[1] . (is_array($s) ? "lang_format(array('" . implode("', '", array_map('add_apo_slashes', $s)) . "')," : "sprintf('" . add_apo_slashes($s) . "',");
 	}
 	return ($match[1] && $match[4] ? $s : "$match[1]'" . add_apo_slashes($s) . "'$match[4]");
 }
@@ -84,8 +84,8 @@ function put_file($match) {
 			}
 		}
 	}
-	if (basename($match[2]) != "lang.inc.php" || !$_SESSION["lang"]) {
-		if (basename($match[2]) == "lang.inc.php") {
+	if (basename($match[2]) == "lang.inc.php") {
+		if (!$_SESSION["lang"]) {
 			$return = str_replace('function lang(string $idf, $number = null): string {', 'function lang($idf, $number = null) {
 	if (is_string($idf)) { // compiled version uses numbers, string comes from a plugin
 		// English translation is closest to the original identifiers //! pluralized translations are not found
@@ -97,27 +97,17 @@ function put_file($match) {
 			if (!$count) {
 				echo "lang() not found\n";
 			}
+		} else {
+			$return = preg_replace('~// not used in a single language version from here\n.*~s', '', $return);
+			$return = preg_replace_callback('~(\$pos = (.+\n).+;)~sU', function ($match) {
+				return "\$pos = $match[2]\t\t\t: " . (preg_match("~'$_SESSION[lang]'.* \\? (.+)\n~U", $match[1], $match2) ? $match2[1] : "1") . "\n\t\t);";
+			}, $return);
+			$return = str_replace('Lang::$translations[$idf] ?: $idf', '$idf', $return); // lang() is used only by old plugins
+			$return .= "define('Adminer\\LANG', '$_SESSION[lang]');\n";
 		}
-		$tokens = token_get_all($return); // to find out the last token
-		return "?>\n$return" . (in_array($tokens[count($tokens) - 1][0], array(T_CLOSE_TAG, T_INLINE_HTML), true) ? "<?php" : "");
-	} elseif (preg_match('~\s*(\$pos = (.+\n).+;)~sU', $return, $match2)) {
-		// single language lang() is used for plural
-		return "define('Adminer\\LANG', '$_SESSION[lang]');
-
-function lang(\$translation, \$number = null) {
-	if (is_array(\$translation)) {
-		\$pos = $match2[2]\t\t\t: " . (preg_match("~'$_SESSION[lang]'.* \\? (.+)\n~U", $match2[1], $match3) ? $match3[1] : "1") . '
-		);
-		$translation = $translation[$pos];
-	}
-	$translation = str_replace("%d", "%s", $translation);
-	$number = format_number($number);
-	return sprintf($translation, $number);
-}
-';
-	} else {
-		echo "lang() \$pos not found\n";
 	}
+	$tokens = token_get_all($return); // to find out the last token
+	return "?>\n$return" . (in_array($tokens[count($tokens) - 1][0], array(T_CLOSE_TAG, T_INLINE_HTML), true) ? "<?php" : "");
 }
 
 function lzw_compress($string) {