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9.1 Invoking the msgcat Program

msgcat [option] [inputfile]...

The msgcat program concatenates and merges the specified PO files. It finds messages which are common to two or more of the specified PO files. By using the --more-than option, greater commonality may be requested before messages are printed. Conversely, the --less-than option may be used to specify less commonality before messages are printed (i.e. ‘--less-than=2’ will only print the unique messages). Translations, comments, extracted comments, and file positions will be cumulated, except that if --use-first is specified, they will be taken from the first PO file to define them.

To concatenate POT files, better use xgettext, not msgcat, because msgcat would choke on the undefined charsets in the specified POT files.

9.1.1 Input file location

inputfile

Input files.

-f file
--files-from=file

Read the names of the input files from file instead of getting them from the command line.

-D directory
--directory=directory

Add directory to the list of directories. Source files are searched relative to this list of directories. The resulting .po file will be written relative to the current directory, though.

If inputfile is ‘-’, standard input is read.

9.1.2 Output file location

-o file
--output-file=file

Write output to specified file.

The results are written to standard output if no output file is specified or if it is ‘-’.

9.1.3 Message selection

-< number
--less-than=number

Print messages with less than number definitions, defaults to infinite if not set.

-> number
--more-than=number

Print messages with more than number definitions, defaults to 0 if not set.

-u
--unique

Shorthand for ‘--less-than=2’. Requests that only unique messages be printed.

9.1.4 Input file syntax

-P
--properties-input

Assume the input files are Java ResourceBundles in Java .properties syntax, not in PO file syntax.

--stringtable-input

Assume the input files are NeXTstep/GNUstep localized resource files in .strings syntax, not in PO file syntax.

9.1.5 Output details

-t
--to-code=name

Specify encoding for output.

--use-first

Use first available translation for each message. Don’t merge several translations into one.

--lang=catalogname

Specify the ‘Language’ field to be used in the header entry. See Filling in the Header Entry for the meaning of this field. Note: The ‘Language-Team’ and ‘Plural-Forms’ fields are left unchanged.

--color
--color=when

Specify whether or when to use colors and other text attributes. See The --color option for details.

--style=style_file

Specify the CSS style rule file to use for --color. See The --style option for details.

--force-po

Always write an output file even if it contains no message.

-i
--indent

Write the .po file using indented style.

--no-location

Do not write ‘#: filename:line’ lines.

-n
--add-location=type

Generate ‘#: filename:line’ lines (default).

The optional type can be either ‘full’, ‘file’, or ‘never’. If it is not given or ‘full’, it generates the lines with both file name and line number. If it is ‘file’, the line number part is omitted. If it is ‘never’, it completely suppresses the lines (same as --no-location).

--strict

Write out a strict Uniforum conforming PO file. Note that this Uniforum format should be avoided because it doesn’t support the GNU extensions.

-p
--properties-output

Write out a Java ResourceBundle in Java .properties syntax. Note that this file format doesn’t support plural forms and silently drops obsolete messages.

--stringtable-output

Write out a NeXTstep/GNUstep localized resource file in .strings syntax. Note that this file format doesn’t support plural forms.

-w number
--width=number

Set the output page width. Long strings in the output files will be split across multiple lines in order to ensure that each line’s width (= number of screen columns) is less or equal to the given number.

--no-wrap

Do not break long message lines. Message lines whose width exceeds the output page width will not be split into several lines. Only file reference lines which are wider than the output page width will be split.

-s
--sort-output

Generate sorted output. Note that using this option makes it much harder for the translator to understand each message’s context.

-F
--sort-by-file

Sort output by file location.

9.1.6 Informative output

-h
--help

Display this help and exit.

-V
--version

Output version information and exit.


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