GENCAT(1) User Commands GENCAT(1)
NAME
gencat - generate a formatted message catalog
SYNOPSIS
gencat 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 currently 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 considered as part of the subsequent field.
$set n comment Where
n specifies the set identifier of the
following 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
identifier 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 message catalog. If a
message source line has a message number, but
neither a field separator nor
message-text, the
existing message with that number (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
character. 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
continue 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
specified, standard output is used.
msgfile A path name of a message text source file. If - is
specified for an instance of
msgfile, standard input is
used. The format of message text source files is defined
in
Message Text Source File Format.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See
environ(7) for descriptions of the following environment
variables that affect the execution of
gencat:
LANG,
LC_ALL,
LC_CTYPE,
LC_MESSAGES, and
NLSPATH.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 Successful completion.
>0 An error occurred.
ATTRIBUTES
See
attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:
+--------------------+-----------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+--------------------+-----------------+
|CSI | enabled |
+--------------------+-----------------+
|Interface Stability | Standard |
+--------------------+-----------------+
SEE ALSO
mkmsgs(1),
catgets(3C),
catopen(3C),
gettxt(3C),
nl_types.h(3HEAD),
attributes(7),
environ(7),
standards(7) February 1, 1995 GENCAT(1)
