gencat(1) gencat(1)
NAME
gencat - generate a formatted message catalogue
SYNOPSIS
gencat [-m] catfile msgfile ...
DESCRIPTION
The gencat utility merges the message text source file(s) msgfile
into a formatted message database catfile. The database catfile will
be created if it does not already exist. If catfile does exist its
messages will be included in the new catfile. If set and message
numbers collide, the new message-text defined in msgfile will replace
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 NLSETD [see nltypes(5)] is assumed.
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
single ASCII space or tab character. Any other ASCII spaces or tabs
are considered as being 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-{NLSETMAX}). 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 will be located in the default message set NLSETD.
$delset n comment
Deletes message set n from an existing message catalogue. Any
string following the set number is treated as a comment.
(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, which is a number in the
range (1-{NLMSGMAX}). The message-text is stored in the message
catalogue 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 message catalogue. 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 catalogue. Message
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identifiers need not be contiguous. The length of message-text
must be in the range (0-{NLTEXTMAX}).
$quote c
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 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) \n |
| horizontal tab HT \t |
| vertical tab VT \v |
| backspace BS \b |
| carriage return CR \r |
| 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
NOTES
This version of gencat is built upon the mkmsgs utility. The gencat
database comprises of two files catfile.m which is an mkmsgs format
catalogue and the file catfile which contains the information
required to translate an set and message number into a simple message
number which can be used in a call to gettxt.
Using gettxt constrains the catalogues to be located in a
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subdirectory under /usr/lib/locale. This restriction is lifted by
placing only a symbolic link to the catalogue in the directory
/usr/lib/locale/Xopen/LCMESSAGES when the catalogue is opened. It is
this link that gettxt uses when attempting to access the catalogue.
The link is removed when the catalogue is closed but occasionally as
applications exit abnormally without closing catlogues redundant
symbolic links will be left in the directory.
For compatibility with previous version of gencat released in a
number of specialized internationalization products, the -m option is
supplied. This option will cause gencat to build a single file
catfile which is compatible with the format catalogues produced by
the earlier versions. The retrieval routines detect the type of
catalogue they are using and will act appropriately.
SEE ALSO
mkmsgs(1)
catopen(3C), catgets(3C), catclose(3C), gettxt(3C), nltypes(5) in
the Programmer's Reference Manual.
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