MSGCAT

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: July 2020
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NAME

msgcat - combines several message catalogs

SYNOPSIS

msgcat [,OPTION/] [,INPUTFILE/]...

DESCRIPTION

Concatenates and merges the specified PO files. Find 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.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

Input file location:

INPUTFILE ...: input files
-f, --files-from=,FILE/: get list of input files from FILE
-D, --directory=,DIRECTORY/: add DIRECTORY to list for input files search

If input file is -, standard input is read.

Output file location:

-o, --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 -.

Message selection:

-<, --less-than=,NUMBER/: print messages with less than this many definitions, defaults to infinite if not set
->, --more-than=,NUMBER/: print messages with more than this many definitions, defaults to 0 if not set
-u, --unique: shorthand for --less-than=,2/, requests that only unique messages be printed

Input file syntax:

-P, --properties-input: input files are in Java .properties syntax
--stringtable-input: input files are in NeXTstep/GNUstep .strings syntax

Output details:

-t, --to-code=,NAME/: encoding for output
--use-first: use first available translation for each message, don't merge several translations
--lang=,CATALOGNAME/: set 'Language' field in the header entry
--color: use colors and other text attributes always
--color=,WHEN/: use colors and other text attributes if WHEN. WHEN may be 'always', 'never', 'auto', or 'html'.
--style=,STYLEFILE/: specify CSS style rule file for --color
-e, --no-escape: do not use C escapes in output (default)
-E, --escape: use C escapes in output, no extended chars
--force-po: write PO file even if empty
-i, --indent: write the .po file using indented style
--no-location: do not write '#: filename:line' lines
-n, --add-location: generate '#: filename:line' lines (default)
--strict: write out strict Uniforum conforming .po file
-p, --properties-output: write out a Java .properties file
--stringtable-output: write out a NeXTstep/GNUstep .strings file
-w, --width=,NUMBER/: set output page width
--no-wrap: do not break long message lines, longer than the output page width, into several lines
-s, --sort-output: generate sorted output
-F, --sort-by-file: sort output by file location

Informative output:

-h, --help: display this help and exit
-V, --version: output version information and exit

AUTHOR

Written by Bruno Haible.

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs in the bug tracker at <https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/gettext> or by email to <bug-gettext@gnu.org>.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2001-2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.