GENCAT(1)						    BSD General Commands Manual 						 GENCAT(1)

NAME

     gencat -- NLS catalog compiler

SYNOPSIS

     gencat output-file input-files...

DESCRIPTION

     The gencat utility merges the text NLS input files input-files... into a formatted message catalog file output-file.  The file output-file
     will be created if it does not already exist.  If output-file does exist, its messages will be included in the new output-file.  If set and
     message numbers collide, the new message text defined in input-files... will replace the old message text currently contained in output-file.

INPUT FILES

     The format of a message text source file is defined below.  Note that the fields of a message text source line are separated by a single
     space character: any other space characters are considered to be part of the field contents.

     $set n comment
	  This line specifies the set identifier of the following messages until the next $set or end-of-file appears.	The argument n is the set
	  identifier which is defined as a number in the range [1, (NL_SETMAX)].  Set identifiers must occur in ascending order within a single
	  source file, but need not be contiguous.  Any string following a space following the set identifier is treated as a comment.	If no $set
	  directive  is specified in a given source file, all messages will be located in the default message set NL_SETD.

     $del n comment
	  This line deletes messages from set n from a message catalog.  The n specifies a set number.	Any string following a space following the
	  set number is treated as a comment.

     $ comment
	  A line beginning with $ followed by a space is treated as a comment.

     m message-text
	  A message line consists of a message identifier m in the range [1, (NL_MSGMAX)].  The message-text is stored in the message catalog with
	  the set identifier specified by the last $set directive, and the message identifier m.  If the message-text is empty, and there is a
	  space character following the message identifier, an empty string is stored in the message catalog.  If the message-text is empty, and
	  if there is no space character following the message identifier, then the existing message in the current set with the specified message
	  identifier is deleted from the catalog.  Message identifiers must be in ascending order within a single set, but need not be contiguous.
	  The message-text length must be in the range [0, (NL_TEXTMAX)].

     $quote c
	  This line specifies an optional quote character c which can be used to surround message-text so that trailing space or empty messages
	  are visible in message source files.	By default, or if an empty $quote directive is specified, no quoting of message-text will be rec-
	  ognized.

     Empty lines in message source files are ignored.  The effect of lines beginning with any character other than those described above is unde-
     fined.

     Text strings can contain the following special characters and escape sequences.  In addition, if a quote character is defined, it may be
     escaped as well to embed a literal quote character.

	   
	 line feed
	   		 horizontal tab
	   v	 vertical tab
	   	 backspace
	   
	 carriage return
	   f	 form feed
	   \	 backslash
	   ooo  octal number in the range [000, 377]

     A backslash character immediately before the end of the line in a file is used to continue the line onto the next line, e.g.:

	   1 This line is continued 
	   on this line.

     If the character following the backslash is not one of those specified, the backslash is ignored.

DIAGNOSTICS

     The gencat utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

SEE ALSO

     catclose(3), catgets(3), catopen(3)

STANDARDS

     The gencat utility is compliant with the X/Open Portability Guide Issue 4 (``XPG4'') standard.

AUTHORS

     This manual page was originally written by Ken Stailey and later revised by Terry Lambert.

BUGS

     A message catalog file created from a blank input file cannot be revised; it must be deleted and recreated.

BSD
								   June 11, 1997							       BSD