GENCAT(1)GENCAT(1)NAMEgencat - generate a formatted message catalog
SYNOPSISgencat catfile msgfile...
DESCRIPTION
The gencat command merges the message text source file(s) msgfile into
a formatted message database catfile. The database catfile is created
if it does not already exist. If catfile does exist, its messages are
included in the new catfile. If set and message numbers collide, the
new message-text defined in msgfile replaces the old message text cur‐
rently 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.h(3HEAD)) is assumed.
Message Text Source File Format
The format of a message text source file is defined as follows. 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 con‐
sidered as part of the subsequent field.
$set n comment
Where n specifies the set identifier of the fol‐
lowing 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 are
located in the default message set NL_SETD.
$delset n comment
Deletes message set n from an existing message
catalog. 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, a number in
the range (1-{NL_MSGMAX}). The message-text is
stored in the message catalog with the set iden‐
tifier specified by the last $set directive, and
with message identifier m. If the message-text is
empty, and an ASCII space or tab field separator
is present, an empty string is stored in the mes‐
sage catalog. If a message source line has a
message number, but neither a field separator nor
message-text, the existing message with that num‐
ber (if any) is deleted from the catalog. 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 char‐
acter. 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 con‐
tinue 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
OPERANDS
The following operands are supported:
catfile
A path name of the formatted message catalog. If − is spec‐
ified, standard output is used.
msgfile
A path name of a message text source file. If − is speci‐
fied for an instance of msgfile, standard input is used.
The format of message text source files is defined in Mes‐
sage Text Source File Format.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables
that affect the execution of gencat: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LC_MES‐
SAGES, and NLSPATH.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0
Successful completion.
>0
An error occurred.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
┌────────────────────┬─────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├────────────────────┼─────────────────┤
│CSI │ enabled │
├────────────────────┼─────────────────┤
│Interface Stability │ Standard │
└────────────────────┴─────────────────┘
SEE ALSOmkmsgs(1), catgets(3C), catopen(3C), gettxt(3C), nl_types.h(3HEAD),
attributes(5), environ(5), standards(5)
Feb 1, 1995 GENCAT(1)
