php55 extension to use __()?

[Jim Hu]

Not ready to use php7, so I'm trying to install phpmyadmin 4.6 from a download. I get an error:

PHP Fatal error:  Call to undefined function __() in /Library/WebServer/Documents/phpMyAdmin-4.6.0-all-languages/libraries/sanitizing.lib.php on line 135


I can reproduced this error by making a minimal CLI script that calls the function.

From what I can find online, __() is a shortcut for a translation function used in internationalization.
I'm guessing that this is due to not having the appropriate php extension to use this. I tried installing php55-gettext and php55-intl to no avail. gettext allows me to call the single underscore function _() but not the double underscore version.

Thanks in advance,

Jim Hu