gencat

GENCAT(1)                    General Commands Manual                   GENCAT(1)

NAME
     gencat – NLS catalog compiler

SYNOPSIS
     gencat output-file input-files...

DESCRIPTION
     The gencat utility merges the text NLS input files input-files... into a
     formatted message catalog file output-file.  The file output-file will be
     created if it does not already exist.  If output-file does exist, its
     messages will be included in the new output-file.  If set and message
     numbers collide, the new message text defined in input-files... will
     replace the old message text currently contained in output-file.

INPUT FILES
     The format of a message text source file is defined below.  Note that the
     fields of a message text source line are separated by a single space
     character: any other space characters are considered to be part of the
     field contents.

     $set n comment
          This line specifies the set identifier of the following messages until
          the next $set or end-of-file appears.  The argument n is the set
          identifier which is defined as a number in the range [1, (NL_SETMAX)].
          Set identifiers must occur in ascending order within a single source
          file, but need not be contiguous.  Any string following a space
          following the set identifier is treated as a comment.  If no $set
          directive  is specified in a given source file, all messages will be
          located in the default message set NL_SETD.

     $del n comment
          This line deletes messages from set n from a message catalog.  The n
          specifies a set number.  Any string following a space following the
          set number is treated as a comment.

     $ comment
          A line beginning with $ followed by a space is treated as a comment.

     m message-text
          A message line consists of a message identifier m in the range [1,
          (NL_MSGMAX)].  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 character following the message identifier, an empty string is
          stored in the message catalog.  If the message-text is empty, and if
          there is no space character following the message identifier, then the
          existing message in the current set with the specified message
          identifier is deleted from the catalog.  Message identifiers must be
          in ascending order within a single set, but need not be contiguous.
          The message-text length 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 space or empty messages are
          visible in message source files.  By default, or if an empty $quote
          directive is specified, no quoting of message-text will be recognized.

     Empty lines in message source files are ignored.  The effect of lines
     beginning with any character other than those described above is undefined.

     Text strings can contain the following special characters and escape
     sequences.  In addition, if a quote character is defined, it may be escaped
     as well to embed a literal quote character.

           \n    line feed
           \t    horizontal tab
           \v    vertical tab
           \b    backspace
           \r    carriage return
           \f    form feed
           \\    backslash
           \ooo  octal number in the range [000, 377]

     A backslash character immediately before the end of the line in a file is
     used to continue the line onto the next line, e.g.:

           1 This line is continued \
           on this line.

     If the character following the backslash is not one of those specified, the
     backslash is ignored.

DIAGNOSTICS
     The gencat utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

SEE ALSO
     catclose(3), catgets(3), catopen(3)

STANDARDS
     The gencat utility is compliant with the X/Open Portability Guide Issue 4
     (“XPG4”) standard.

AUTHORS
     This manual page was originally written by Ken Stailey and later revised by
     Terry Lambert.

BUGS
     A message catalog file created from a blank input file cannot be revised;
     it must be deleted and recreated.

macOS 12.1                        June 11, 1997                       macOS 12.1