MSGFMT(1) User Commands MSGFMT(1)

NAME

msgfmt - create a message object from a message file

SYNOPSIS

msgfmt [-D dir | --directory=dir]
[-f | --use-fuzzy] [-g]
[-o output-file | --output-file=output-file]
[-s] [--strict] [-v] [--verbose] filename.po...

DESCRIPTION

The msgfmt utility creates message object files from portable object
files (filename.po), without changing the portable object files.


The .po file contains messages displayed to users by system commands or
by application programs. .po files can be edited. The messages in these
files can be rewritten in any language supported by the system.


The xgettext(1) command can be used to create .po files from script or
programs.


msgfmt interprets data as characters according to the current setting of
the LC_CTYPE locale category or according to the codeset specified in the
.po file.

OPTIONS

The following options are supported:

-D dir
--directory=dir
Adds dir to the list for input files search.


-f
--use-fuzzy
Uses fuzzy entries in output. If this option
is not specified, fuzzy entries are not
included into the output. These options are
ignored if Solaris message catalogs are
processed.


-g
Directs the utility to generate the GNU-
compatible message catalog file. This option
cannot be specified with the -s option.


-o output-file
--output=output-file
Specifies the output file name as output-file.
All domain directives and duplicate msgids in
the .po file are ignored.


-s
Directs the utility to generate the Solaris
message catalog file. This option cannot be
specified with the -g option.


--strict
Directs the utility to append the suffix .mo
to the generating message object file name if
it doesn't have this suffix. This option is
ignored if Solaris message catalogs are
processed.


-v
--verbose
Verbose. Lists duplicate message identifiers
if Solaris message catalog files are
processed. Message strings are not redefined.

If GNU-compatible message files are processed,
this option detects and diagnoses input file
anomalies which might represent translation
errors. The msgid and msgstr strings are
studied and compared. It is considered
abnormal if one string starts or ends with a
newline while the other does not. Also, if the
string represents a format string used in a
printf-like function, both strings should have
the same number of % format specifiers, with
matching types. If the flag c-format appears
in the special comment '#' for this entry, a
check is performed.

USAGE

The format of portable object files (.po files) is defined as follows.
Each .po file contains one or more lines, with each line containing
either a comment or a statement. Comments start the line with a pound
sign (#) and end with the newline character. All comments (except special
comments described later) and empty lines are ignored. The format of a
statement is:

directive value


Each directive starts at the beginning of the 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.
Use any of the following types of directives for the Solaris message
file:

domain domainname
msgid message_identifier
msgstr message_string


For a GNU-compatible message file, use any of the following types of
directives:

domain domainname
msgid message_identifier
msgid_plural untranslated_string_plural
msgstr message_string
msgstr[n] message_string


The behavior of the domain directive is affected by the options used. See
OPTIONS for the behavior when the -o or --output-file options are
specified. If the -o or --output-file options are not specified, the
behavior of the domain directive is as follows:

o All msgids from the beginning of each .po file to the first
domain directive are put into a default message object file.
The default message object file is named messages.mo, if the
Solaris message catalog file format is used to generate the
message object file or if the --strict option is specified.
Otherwise, the default message object file is named messages.

o When msgfmt encounters a domain domainname directive in the
.po file, all following msgids until the next domain directive
are put into the message object file, named domainname.mo, if
the Solaris message catalog file format is used to generate
the message object file or if the --strict option is
specified. Otherwise, the msgids are put into the message
object file named domainname.

o Duplicate msgids are defined in the scope of each domain. That
is, a msgid is considered a duplicate only if the identical
msgid exists in the same domain.

o All duplicate msgids are ignored.


The msgid directive specifies the value of a message identifier
associated with the directive that follows it. The msgid_plural directive
specifies the plural form message specified to the plural message
handling functions ngettext(), dngettext(), or dcngettext(). The
message_identifier string identifies a target string to be used at
retrieval time. Each statement containing a msgid directive must be
followed by a statement containing a msgstr directive or msgstr[n]
directives.


The msgstr directive specifies the target string associated with the
message_identifier string declared in the immediately preceding msgid
directive.


The directive msgstr[n] (where n = 0, 1, 2, ...) specifies the target
string to be used with plural form handling functions ngettext(),
dngettext(), and dcngettext().


Message strings can contain the escape sequences \n for newline, \t for
tab, \v for vertical tab, \b for backspace, \r for carriage return, \f
for formfeed, \ for backslash, \" for double quote, \a for alarm, \ddd
for octal bit pattern, and \xDD for hexadecimal bit pattern.


Comments for a GNU-compatible message file should be in one of the
following formats (the msgfmt utility will ignore these comments when
processing Solaris message files):

# translator-comments
#. automatic-comments
#: reference...
#, flag...


The '#:' comments indicate the location of the msgid string in the source
files in filename:line format. The '#', '#.', and '#:' comments are
informative only and are silently ignored by the msgfmt utility. The '#,'
comments require one or more flags separated by the comma character. The
following flags can be specified:

fuzzy
This flag can be inserted by the translator. It shows that
the msgstr string might not be a correct translation
(anymore). Only the translator can judge if the
translation requires further modification or is acceptable
as is. Once satisfied with the translation, the
translator removes this fuzzy flag. If this flag is
specified, the msgfmt utility will not generate the entry
for the immediately following msgid in the output message
catalog.


c-format
no-c-format
The c-format flag indicates that the msgid string is used
as a format string by printf-like functions. In case the
c-format flag is given for a string, the msgfmt utility
does some more tests to check the validity of the
translation.


In the GNU-compatible message file, the msgid entry with empty string
("") is called the header entry and treated specially. If the message
string for the header entry contains nplurals=value, the value indicates
the number of plural forms. For example, if nplurals=4, there are four
plural forms. If nplurals is defined, the same line should contain
plural=expression, separated by a semicolon character. The expression is
a C language expression to determine which version of msgstr[n] is to be
used based on the value of n, the last argument of ngettext(),
dngettext(), or dcngettext(). For example,

nplurals=2; plural= n == 1 ? 0 : 1


indicates that there are two plural forms in the language. msgstr[0] is
used if n == 1, otherwise msgstr[1] is used. For another example:

nplurals=3; plural= n == 1 ? 0 : n == 2 ? 1 : 2


indicates that there are three plural forms in the language. msgstr[0] is
used if n == 1, msgstr[1] is used if n == 2, otherwise msgstr[2] is used.


If the header entry contains a charset=codeset string, the codeset is
used to indicate the codeset to be used to encode the message strings. If
the output string's codeset is different from the message string's
codeset, codeset conversion from the message string's codeset to the
output string's codeset will be performed upon the call of gettext(),
dgettext(), dcgettext(), ngettext(), dngettext(), and dcngettext() for
the GNU-compatible message catalogs. The output string's codeset is
determined by the current locale's codeset (the return value of
nl_langinfo(CODESET)) by default, and can be changed by the call of
bind_textdomain_codeset().

Message catalog file format

The msgfmt utility can generate the message object both in Solaris
message catalog file format and in GNU-compatible message catalog file
format. If the -s option is specified and the input file is a Solaris
.po file, the msgfmt utility generates the message object in Solaris
message catalog file format. If the -g option is specified and the input
file is a GNU .po file, the msgfmt utility generates the message object
in GNU-compatible message catalog file format. If neither the -s nor -g
option is specified, the msgfmt utility determines the message catalog
file format as follows:

o If the .po file contains a valid GNU header entry (having an
empty string for msgid), the msgfmt utility uses the GNU-
compatible message catalog file format.

o Otherwise, the msgfmt utility uses the Solaris message catalog
file format.


If the msgfmt utility determined that the Solaris message catalog file
format is used, as above, but found the .po file contains directives that
are specific to the GNU-compatible message catalog file format, such as
msgid_plural and msgstr[n], the msgfmt utility handles those directives
as invalid specifications.

EXAMPLES

Example 1: Creating message objects from message files

In this example, module1.po and module2.po are portable message objects
files.


example% cat module1.po
# default domain "messages.mo"
msgid "msg 1"
msgstr "msg 1 translation"
#
domain "help_domain"
msgid "help 2"
msgstr "help 2 translation"
#
domain "error_domain"
msgid "error 3"
msgstr "error 3 translation"
example% cat module2.po
# default domain "messages.mo"
msgid "mesg 4"
msgstr "mesg 4 translation"
#
domain "error_domain"
msgid "error 5"
msgstr "error 5 translation"
#
domain "window_domain"
msgid "window 6"
msgstr "window 6 translation"


The following command will produce the output files messages.mo,
help_domain.mo, and error_domain.mo in Solaris message catalog file
format:


example% msgfmt module1.po


The following command will produce the output files messages.mo,
help_domain.mo, error_domain.mo, and window_domain.mo in Solaris message
catalog file format:


example% msgfmt module1.po module2.po


The following command will produce the output file hello.mo in Solaris
message catalog file format:


example% msgfmt -o hello.mo module1.po module2.po

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

See environ(7) for descriptions of the following environmental variables
that affect the execution of msgfmt: LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.

ATTRIBUTES

See attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:


+---------------+-----------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+-----------------+
|CSI | Enabled |
+---------------+-----------------+

SEE ALSO

xgettext(1), gettext(3C), setlocale(3C), attributes(7), environ(7)

NOTES

Installing message catalogs under the C locale is pointless, since they
are ignored for the sake of efficiency.

May 21, 2022 MSGFMT(1)