msgfmt(1) General Commands Manual msgfmt(1)NAME
msgfmt - create a message object from a message file
SYNOPSIS
msgfmt [ -v ] filename.po ...
DESCRIPTION
msgfmt creates a message object filename .mo file from the portable message file filename.po.
The .po file contains strings extracted from source code. .po files can be edited, and the messages in them can changed to accomodate any
language supported by the system.
The xgettext command (see xgettext(1)) can be used to create the default.po file.
The msgfmt command does not modify the portable object files.
Portable Object Files
Each .po file contains one or more lines. Each line contains either a comment or a statement. Comments start the line with a hash mark
(#) and end with the newline character and are ignored.
Each directive starts on a new line and is separated from <value> by white space (such as one or more space or tab characters). <value>
consists of one or more quoted strings separated by white space or <CR>. The following are valid directives:
domain domainname
msgid message_identifier
msgstr message_string
The domain directive identifies all following directives until another domain directive is encountered as applying to the domain domain-
name. The domainname is a string up to MAXDOMAIN bytes long, and can contain any characters allowed in legal filenames. Until the first
domain directive is encountered in the file, all target strings belong to the default domain. The default domain is called default.
The msgid directive specifies the message identifier for the following msgstr directive. The message_identifier string identifies a target
string at retrieval time. Every statement containing a msgid directive must be followed by a statement containing a msgstr directive.
The msgstr directive specifies the target string associated with the message_identifier string declared in the immediately preceding msgid
directive.
OPTIONS -v Verbose. List duplicate message identifiers. Message strings are not redefined.
EXAMPLES
The following command creates a named .mo file for each domain named in the portable message objects filename1.po and filename2.po.
msgfmt filename1.po filename2.po
Running msgfmt(1) on the following sample .po file creates two .mo files, named first.mo and second.mo.
domain "first.mo"
msgid "aao"
msgstr "first sample message"
domain "second.mo"
msgid "bbo"
msgstr "second sample message"
SEE ALSO xgettext(1), gettext(3).
25 July 1990 msgfmt(1)
Check Out this Related Man Page
gettext(1) User Commands gettext(1)NAME
gettext - retrieve text string from message database
SYNOPSIS
gettext [-d textdomain | --domain=textdomain] [textdomain] msgid
gettext -s [-e] [-n] [-d textdomain | --domain=textdomain] msgid...
DESCRIPTION
The gettext utility retrieves a translated text string corresponding to string msgid from a message object generated with msgfmt(1). The
message object name is derived from the optional argument textdomain if present, otherwise from the TEXTDOMAIN environment. If no domain is
specified, or if a corresponding string cannot be found, gettext prints msgid.
Ordinarily, gettext looks for its message object in /usr/lib/locale/lang/LC_MESSAGES where lang is the locale name. If present, the TEXTDO-
MAINDIR environment variable replaces the pathname component up to lang.
This command interprets C escape sequences such as for tab. Use \ to print a backslash. To produce a message on a line of its own,
either enter
at the end of msgid, or use this command in conjunction with printf(1).
When used with the -s option, gettext behaves like echo(1). But it does not simply copy its arguments to standard output. Instead, those
messages found in the selected catalog are translated.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
-d textdomain Retrieves translated messages from the domain textdomain, if textdomain is not specified as an operand.
--domain=textdomain
-e Enables expansion of some escape sequences if used with the -s option.
-n Suppresses trailing newline if used with the -s option.
-s Behaves like echo(1) (see DESCRIPTION above). If the -s option is specified, no expansion of C escape sequences is
performed and a newline character is appended to the output, by default.
OPERANDS
The following operands are supported:
textdomain A domain name used to retrieve the messages. This overrides the specification by the -d or --domain options, if
present.
msgid A key to retrieve the localized message.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
LANG Specifies locale name.
LC_MESSAGES Specifies messaging locale, and if present overrides LANG for messages.
TEXTDOMAIN Specifies the text domain name, which is identical to the message object filename without .mo suffix.
TEXTDOMAINDIR Specifies the pathname to the message database. If present, replaces /usr/lib/locale.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Availability |SUNWcsu |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
SEE ALSO echo(1), msgfmt(1), printf(1), gettext(3C), setlocale(3C), attributes(5)NOTES
This is the shell equivalent of the library routine gettext(3C).
SunOS 5.10 17 Sep 2001 gettext(1)