gencat(1)							   User Commands							 gencat(1)

NAME

       gencat - generate a formatted message catalog

SYNOPSIS

       gencat catfile msgfile...

DESCRIPTION

       The  gencat  command merges the message text source file(s) msgfile into a formatted message database catfile. The database catfile is cre-
       ated if it does not already exist.  If catfile does exist, its messages are included in the new catfile. If set and  message  numbers  col-
       lide,  the  new	message-text defined in msgfile replaces the old message text currently contained in catfile. The message text source file
       (or set of files) input to gencat can contain either set and message numbers or simply message numbers, in which case the set NL_SETD  (see
       nl_types.h(3HEAD)) is assumed.

   Message Text Source File Format
       The  format of a message text source file is defined as follows. Note that the fields of a message text source line are separated by a sin-
       gle ASCII space or tab character. Any other ASCII spaces or tabs are considered as part of the subsequent field.

       $set n comment	       Where n specifies the set identifier of the following  messages	until  the  next  $set,  $delset,  or  end-of-file
			       appears.  n  must be a number in the range (1-{NL_SETMAX}). Set identifiers within a single source file need not be
			       contiguous. Any string following the set identifier is treated as a comment.  If no $set directive is specified	in
			       a message text source file, all messages are located in the default message set NL_SETD.

       $delset n comment       Deletes	message  set  n from an existing message catalog. Any string following the set number is treated as a com-
			       ment. (Note: if	n is not a valid set it is ignored.)

       $comment 	       A line beginning with a dollar symbol  $ followed by an ASCII space or tab character is treated as a comment.

       m message-text	       The m denotes the message identifier, a number 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 with message identifier m. If the
			       message-text is empty, and an ASCII space or tab field separator is present, an empty string is stored in the  mes-
			       sage  catalog.	If a message source line has a message number, but neither a field separator nor message-text, the
			       existing message with that number (if any) is deleted from the catalog. Message identifiers need not be contiguous.
			       The length of message-text 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 spa-
			       ces or null (empty) messages are visible in a message source line.  By default, or if an empty $quote directive	is
			       supplied, no quoting of message-text will be recognized.

       Empty lines in a message text source file are ignored.

       Text strings can contain the special characters and escape sequences defined in the following table:

       +--------------------------------------------------------------+
       |Description	     Symbol		   Sequence	      |
       |newline 	     NL(LF)		   
		      |
       |horizontal tab	     HT 		   			      |
       |vertical tab	     VT 		   v		      |
       |backspace	     BS 		   		      |
       |carriage return      CR 		   
		      |
       |form feed	     FF 		   f		      |
       |backslash	     			   \		      |
       |bit pattern	     ddd		   ddd 	      |
       +--------------------------------------------------------------+

       The  escape  sequence  ddd  consists  of backslash followed by 1, 2 or 3 octal digits, which are taken to specify the value of the desired
       character. If the character following a backslash is not one of those specified, the backslash is ignored.

       Backslash followed by an ASCII newline character is also used to continue a string on the following line. Thus,	the  following	two  lines
       describe a single message string:

       1 This line continues 
       to the next line

       which is equivalent to:

	   1 This line continues to the next line

OPERANDS

       The following operands are supported:

       catfile	       A path name of the formatted message catalog. If - is specified, standard output is used.

       msgfile	       A path name of a message text source file. If - is specified for an instance of msgfile, standard input is used. The format
		       of message text source files is defined in Message Text Source File Format.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables that affect the execution of gencat: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LC_MES-
       SAGES, and NLSPATH.

EXIT STATUS

       The following exit values are returned:

       0	Successful completion.

       >0	An error occurred.

ATTRIBUTES

       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWloc			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |CSI			     |enabled			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Interface Stability	     |Standard			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

       mkmsgs(1), catgets(3C), catopen(3C), gettxt(3C), nl_types.h(3HEAD), attributes(5), environ(5), standards(5)

SunOS 5.10							    1 Feb 1995								 gencat(1)