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GENCAT(1) General Commands Manual GENCAT(1)
NAME
gencat - generates a Native Language Support (NLS) message catalog file
SYNOPSIS
gencat catfile [msgfile|- ...]
DESCRIPTION
The gencat utility generates a formatted message catalog catfile from
stdin or one or more message source text files msgfile. The file catfile
is created if it does not already exist. If catfile does exist, its
messages are included in the new catfile. The new message text defined
in msgfile replaces the old message text currently in catfile when the
set and message numbers match.
The generated message catalog contains message strings that will be
retrieved using the catgets(3) library call. These messages are
dynamically loaded by the Native Language Support (NLS) library at run
time. Error messages are grouped into sets, and a program can load a
particular set depending on which type, or language, of messages is
desired.
Message Text Source File Format
The message text source files are text files in the format described
below. Note that the fields of a message text source line are separated
by space or tab characters.
$set n comment
Determines the set identifier to be used for all subsequent messages
until the next $set or end-of-file. The n is the set identifier
which is defined as 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
Removes message set n from the catalog. The n is a set identifier
in the range [1, NL_SETMAX]. If a message set was created earlier
in the current file, or in a file previously read by the gencat
command, this directive will remove it. Any string following the
set identifier is treated as a comment.
$ comment
A line beginning with $ followed by a space or tab character is
treated as a comment.
m message-text
A message line consists of a message identifier m in the range [1,
NL_MSGMAX] and the message-text. The message-text is read until the
end of the line or a quote character (if one is specified). The
message-text is stored in the message catalog with the set
identifier specified by the last $set directive, and the message
identifier m. If the message-text is empty and there is a space or
tab character following the message identifier, an empty string is
stored in the message catalog. If no message-text is provided, and
if there is no space or tab character following the message
identifier, the message with the message identifier m in the current
set is removed from the catalog. Message identifiers need not be
contiguous within a single set. The length of message-text must be
in the range [0, NL_TEXTMAX].
$quote c
Sets an optional quote character to be used around the message-text.
The quote character c may be any character other than white space.
If this is specified, then messages must begin and end with the
quote character. This is useful when messages must contain leading
white space. By default no quote character is used. If an empty
$quote directive is specified, then the current quote character is
unset.
Empty lines and leading blanks in a message text source file are ignored.
Any line beginning with any character other than those described above is
ignored as a syntax error.
Text message strings may contain any characters and the following special
characters and escape sequences.
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
A bit pattern, \ddd, consists of a backslash followed by one, two, or
three octal digits representing the value of the character. The current
quote character, if defined, may be escaped with a backslash to generate
the quote character. Any character following the backslash ('\') other
than those specified is ignored.
A backslash at the end of the line continues the message onto the next
line. The following two lines are an example of such a message:
1 This message continues \
on the next line
Producing the following message:
1 This message continues on the next line
EXIT STATUS
The gencat utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
SEE ALSO
catclose(3), catgets(3), catopen(3), nls(7)
AUTHORS
The Native Language Support (NLS) message catalog facility was
contributed by J.T. Conklin <jtc@NetBSD.org>. This page was originally
written by Kee Hinckley <nazgul@somewhere.com>.
NetBSD 10.99 December 29, 2011 NetBSD 10.99