# MSGCAT

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
AUTHOR
REPORTING BUGS
COPYRIGHT
SEE ALSO

## 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 to <bug-gnu-gettext@gnu.org>.

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2001-2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://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.

## SEE ALSO

The full documentation for msgcat is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and msgcat programs are properly installed at your site, the command

info msgcat

should give you access to the complete manual.