GENCAT(1)                 BSD 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 fol-
          lowing a space following the set identifier is treated as a comment.
          If no $set directive  is specified in a given source file, all mes-
          sages 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 unde-
     fined.

     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.

BSD                              June 11, 1997                             BSD