Sublime Text replace selected text with a snippet, trigger this with a keyboard shortcut (e.g. for wrapping natural laguage strings with a call to a translation function)

Default (Linux).sublime-keymap

// add this to your "Key Bindings - User" to trigger the snipped
{
  "keys": ["ctrl+1"],
  "command": "insert_snippet",
  "args": {
    "name": "Packages/User/php-translation-wrap-string.sublime-snippet"
  },
}

php-translation-wrap-string.sublime-snippet

<!-- this snipped will wrap the selected text -->
<snippet>
    <content><![CDATA[
' . \$this->translate('${0:$TM_SELECTED_TEXT}') . '
]]></content>
    <!-- Optional: Set a tabTrigger to define how to trigger the snippet -->
    <tabTrigger>translate wrap string</tabTrigger>
    <!-- Optional: Set a scope to limit where the snippet will trigger -->
    <scope>source.php</scope>
</snippet>