xgettext(1)							   User Commands						       xgettext(1)

NAME

       xgettext - extract gettext call strings from C programs

SYNOPSIS

       xgettext [-ns] [ -a [-x exclude-file]] [-c comment-tag] [-d default-domain] [-j] [-m prefix] [-M suffix] [-p pathname] -| filename...

       xgettext  -h

DESCRIPTION

       The  xgettext  utility is used to automate the creation of portable message files (.po). A .po file contains copies of "C" strings that are
       found in  ANSI C source code in filename or the standard input if  `-' is specified on the command line. The  .po file can be used as input
       to the  msgfmt(1) utility, which produces a binary form of the message file that can be	used by application during run-time.

       xgettext  writes msgid strings from gettext(3C) calls in  filename to the default output file messages.po. The default output file name can
       be changed by  -d option. msgid strings in dgettext() calls are written to the output file domainname.po  where	domainname  is	the  first
       parameter to the dgettext() call.

       By  default,  xgettext  creates	a   .po  file  in  the current working directory, and each entry is in the same order that the strings are
       extracted from filenames. When the -p option is specified, the  .po file is created in the  pathname directory. An  existing  .po  file	is
       overwritten.

       Duplicate   msgids are written to the  .po file as comment lines. When the  -s option is specified, the	.po is sorted by the msgid string,
       and all duplicated msgids are removed. All  msgstr directives in the .po file are empty unless the -m option is used.

OPTIONS

       The following options are supported:

       -n		       Add comment lines to the output file indicating file name and line number in the source file where  each  extracted
			       string is encountered. These lines appear before each msgid in the following format:

			       # # File: filename, line: line-number

       -s		       Generate output sorted by  msgids with all duplicate  msgids removed.

       -a		       Extract all strings, not just those found in gettext(3C), and dgettext() () calls. Only one  .po file is created.

       -c comment-tag	       The  comment  block  beginning  with comment-tag as the first token of the comment block is added to the output .po
			       file as	# delimited comments. For multiple domains, xgettext directs comments and messages to the prevailing  text
			       domain.

       -d default-domain       Rename default output file from messages.po to default-domain .po.

       -j		       Join messages with existing message files.  If a .po file does not exist, it is created.  If a .po file does exist,
			       new messages are appended.  Any duplicate msgids are commented out in the resulting .po file.  Domain directives in
			       the existing .po file are ignored. Results not guaranteed if the existing message file has been edited.

       -m prefix	       Fill  in  the msgstr with  prefix. This is useful for debugging purposes. To make msgstr identical to msgid, use an
			       empty string  ("") for prefix.

       -M suffix	       Fill in the msgstr with	suffix. This is useful for debugging purposes.

       -p pathname	       Specify the directory where the output files will be placed. This option overrides the current working directory.

       -x exclude-file	       Specify a  .po file that contains a list of msgids that are not to be extracted from the input files. The format of
			       exclude-file  is  identical  to	the  .po file. However, only the msgid directive line in exclude-file is used. All
			       other lines are simply ignored.	The -x option can only be used with the -a option.

       -h		       Print a help message on the standard output.

ATTRIBUTES

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

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWloc			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

       msgfmt(1), gettext(3C), attributes(5)

NOTES

       xgettext is not able to extract cast strings, for example ANSI C casts of literal strings to (const char *). This  is  unnecessary  anyway,
       since the prototypes in <libintl.h> already specify this type.

       In  messages and translation notes, lines greater than 2048 characters are truncated to 2048 characters and a warning message is printed to
       stderr.

SunOS 5.10							    23 Mar 1999 						       xgettext(1)