GENCAT(1P)						     POSIX Programmer's Manual							GENCAT(1P)

PROLOG

       This  manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the correspond-
       ing Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.

NAME

       gencat - generate a formatted message catalog

SYNOPSIS

       gencat catfile msgfile...

DESCRIPTION

       The gencat utility shall merge the message text source file msgfile into a formatted message catalog catfile. The  file	catfile  shall	be
       created	if it does not already exist. If catfile does exist, its messages shall be included in the new catfile. If set and message numbers
       collide, the new message text defined in msgfile shall replace the old message text currently contained in catfile.

OPTIONS

       None.

OPERANDS

       The following operands shall be supported:

       catfile
	      A pathname of the formatted message catalog. If '-' is specified, standard output shall be used. The format of the  message  catalog
	      produced is unspecified.

       msgfile
	      A  pathname  of a message text source file. If '-' is specified for an instance of msgfile, standard input shall be used. The format
	      of message text source files is defined in the EXTENDED DESCRIPTION section.

STDIN

       The standard input shall not be used unless a msgfile operand is specified as '-' .

INPUT FILES

       The input files shall be text files.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       The following environment variables shall affect the execution of gencat:

       LANG   Provide a default value for the internationalization variables that  are	unset  or  null.  (See	the  Base  Definitions	volume	of
	      IEEE Std 1003.1-2001,  Section  8.2,  Internationalization  Variables  for  the precedence of internationalization variables used to
	      determine the values of locale categories.)

       LC_ALL If set to a non-empty string value, override the values of all the other internationalization variables.

       LC_CTYPE
	      Determine the locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as opposed to
	      multi-byte characters in arguments and input files).

       LC_MESSAGES
	      Determine the locale that should be used to affect the format and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.

       NLSPATH
	      Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of LC_MESSAGES .

ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS

       Default.

STDOUT

       The standard output shall not be used unless the catfile operand is specified as '-' .

STDERR

       The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.

OUTPUT FILES

       None.

EXTENDED DESCRIPTION

       The  content of a message text file shall be in the format defined as follows. Note that the fields of a message text source line are sepa-
       rated by a single <blank>. Any other <blank>s are considered to be part of the subsequent field.

       $set  n comment

	      This line specifies the set identifier of the following messages until the next $set or end-of-file appears. The n denotes  the  set
	      identifier,  which  is  defined as a number in the range [1, {NL_SETMAX}] (see the <limits.h> header defined in the Base Definitions
	      volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001). The application shall ensure that set identifiers are presented in ascending order within a  single
	      source file, but need not be contiguous. Any string following the set identifier shall be treated as a comment. If no $set directive
	      is specified in a message text source file, all messages shall be located in an implementation-defined default message  set  NL_SETD
	      (see the <nl_types.h> header defined in the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001).

       $delset	n comment

	      This line deletes message set n from an existing message catalog.  The n denotes the set number [1, {NL_SETMAX}]. Any string follow-
	      ing the set number shall be treated as a comment.

       $  comment
	      A line beginning with '$' followed by a <blank> shall be treated as a comment.

       m message-text

	      The m denotes the message identifier, which is defined as a number in the range [1, {NL_MSGMAX}] (see the <limits.h>  header).   The
	      message-text  shall  be 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 a <blank> field separator is present, an empty string shall be stored in the message
	      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) shall be deleted from the catalog. The application shall ensure that message identifiers are in ascending order
	      within  a  single  set, but need not be contiguous. The application shall ensure that the length of message-text is in the range [0,
	      {NL_TEXTMAX}] (see the <limits.h> header).

       $quote  n
	      This line specifies an optional quote character c, which can be used to surround	message-text  so  that	trailing  spaces  or  null
	      (empty)  messages are visible in a message source line.  By default, or if an empty $quote directive is supplied, no quoting of mes-
	      sage-text shall be recognized.

       Empty lines in a message text source file shall be ignored. The effects of lines starting with any character other than those defined above
       are implementation-defined.

       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 one, two, or three octal digits, which shall be taken to specify the value of
       the desired character. If the character following a backslash is not one of those specified, the backslash shall be ignored.

       Backslash ( '' ) followed by a <newline> 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 shall be equivalent to:

	      1 This line continues to the next line

EXIT STATUS

       The following exit values shall be returned:

	0     Successful completion.

       >0     An error occurred.

CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS

       Default.

       The following sections are informative.

APPLICATION USAGE

       Message	catalogs  produced  by	gencat	are binary encoded, meaning that their portability cannot be guaranteed between different types of
       machine. Thus, just as C programs need to be recompiled for each type of machine, so message catalogs must be recreated via gencat.

EXAMPLES

       None.

RATIONALE

       None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

       None.

SEE ALSO

       iconv(), the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, <limits.h>, <nl_types.h>

COPYRIGHT

       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technol-
       ogy -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
       Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between this version and  the  original  IEEE
       and  The  Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained
       online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

IEEE
/The Open Group						       2003								GENCAT(1P)