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msgfilter Programmsgfilter [option] filter [filter-option]
The msgfilter program applies a filter to all translations of a
translation catalog.
During each filter invocation, the environment variable
MSGFILTER_MSGID is bound to the message’s msgid, and the environment
variable MSGFILTER_LOCATION is bound to the location in the PO file
of the message. If the message has a context, the environment variable
MSGFILTER_MSGCTXT is bound to the message’s msgctxt, otherwise it is
unbound. If the message has a plural form, environment variable
MSGFILTER_MSGID_PLURAL is bound to the message’s msgid_plural and
MSGFILTER_PLURAL_FORM is bound to the order number of the plural
actually processed (starting with 0), otherwise both are unbound.
If the message has a previous msgid (added by msgmerge),
environment variable MSGFILTER_PREV_MSGCTXT is bound to the
message’s previous msgctxt, MSGFILTER_PREV_MSGID is bound to
the previous msgid, and MSGFILTER_PREV_MSGID_PLURAL is bound to
the previous msgid_plural.
Input PO file.
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 no inputfile is given or if it is ‘-’, standard input is read.
Write output to specified file.
The results are written to standard output if no output file is specified or if it is ‘-’.
The filter can be any program that reads a translation from standard input and writes a modified translation to standard output. A frequently used filter is ‘sed’. A few particular built-in filters are also recognized.
Add newline at the end of each input line and also strip the ending newline from the output line.
Note: If the filter is not a built-in filter, you have to care about encodings:
It is your responsibility to ensure that the filter can cope
with input encoded in the translation catalog’s encoding. If the
filter wants input in a particular encoding, you can in a first step
convert the translation catalog to that encoding using the ‘msgconv’
program, before invoking ‘msgfilter’. If the filter wants input
in the locale’s encoding, but you want to avoid the locale’s encoding, then
you can first convert the translation catalog to UTF-8 using the
‘msgconv’ program and then make ‘msgfilter’ work in an UTF-8
locale, by using the LC_ALL environment variable.
Note: Most translations in a translation catalog don’t end with a
newline character. For this reason, unless the --newline
option is used, it is important that the filter recognizes its
last input line even if it ends without a newline, and that it doesn’t
add an undesired trailing newline at the end. The ‘sed’ program on
some platforms is known to ignore the last line of input if it is not
terminated with a newline. You can use GNU sed instead; it does
not have this limitation.
The filter ‘recode-sr-latin’ is recognized as a built-in filter. The command ‘recode-sr-latin’ converts Serbian text, written in the Cyrillic script, to the Latin script. The command ‘msgfilter recode-sr-latin’ applies this conversion to the translations of a PO file. Thus, it can be used to convert an sr.po file to an sr@latin.po file.
The filter ‘quot’ is recognized as a built-in filter. The command ‘msgfilter quot’ converts any quotations surrounded by a pair of ‘"’, ‘'’, and ‘`’.
The filter ‘boldquot’ is recognized as a built-in filter. The command ‘msgfilter boldquot’ converts any quotations surrounded by a pair of ‘"’, ‘'’, and ‘`’, also adding the VT100 escape sequences to the text to decorate it as bold.
The use of built-in filters is not sensitive to the current locale’s encoding. Moreover, when used with a built-in filter, ‘msgfilter’ can automatically convert the message catalog to the UTF-8 encoding when needed.
Specify whether or when to use colors and other text attributes.
See The --color option for details.
Specify the CSS style rule file to use for --color.
See The --style option for details.
Always write an output file even if it contains no message.
Write the .po file using indented style.
Keep the header entry, i.e. the message with ‘msgid ""’, unmodified, instead of filtering it. By default, the header entry is subject to filtering like any other message.
Do not write ‘#: filename:line’ lines.
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).
Write out a strict Uniforum conforming PO file. Note that this Uniforum format should be avoided because it doesn’t support the GNU extensions.
Write out a Java ResourceBundle in Java .properties syntax. Note
that this file format doesn’t support plural forms and silently drops
obsolete messages.
Write out a NeXTstep/GNUstep localized resource file in .strings syntax.
Note that this file format doesn’t support plural forms.
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.
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.
Generate sorted output. Note that using this option makes it much harder for the translator to understand each message’s context.
Sort output by file location.
To convert German translations to Swiss orthography (in an UTF-8 locale):
msgconv -t UTF-8 de.po | msgfilter sed -e 's/ß/ss/g'
To convert Serbian translations in Cyrillic script to Latin script:
msgfilter recode-sr-latin < sr.po
Next: Invoking the msguniq Program, Previous: Invoking the msggrep Program, Up: Manipulating PO Files [Contents][Index]