GENCAT(1) RISC/os Reference Manual 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 data-
base 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 NL_SETD [see nl_types(5)] is assumed.
The format of a message text source file is defined as fol-
lows. 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-{NL_SETMAX}). 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
NL_SETD .
$delset n comment
Deletes message set n from an existing message catalo-
gue. 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-{NL_MSGMAX}). 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
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GENCAT(1) RISC/os Reference Manual GENCAT(1)
ASCII space or tab field separator is present, an empty
string is stored in the message catalogue. If a mes-
sage 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 catalo-
gue. Message identifiers need not be contiguous. The
length of message-text must be in the range
(0-{NL_TEXTMAX}).
$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
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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
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/LC_MESSAGES 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 catalogues redundant sym-
bolic 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),
nl_types(5) in the Programmer's Reference Manual.
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