msgen(1)

msgen1

Create english message catalog

Usage

msgen [OPTION] INPUTFILE

Overview

Creates an English translation catalog. The input file is the last created English PO file, or a PO Template file (generally created by xgettext). Untranslated entries are assigned a translation that is identical to the msgid.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

Input file location:

INPUTFILE

input PO or POT 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 -.

Input file syntax:

-P, --properties-input

input file is in Java .properties syntax

--stringtable-input

input file is in NeXTstep/GNUstep .strings syntax

Output details:

--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

indented output style

--no-location

suppress '#: filename:line' lines

-n, --add-location

preserve '#: filename:line' lines (default)

--strict

strict Uniforum output style

-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

Releases

12 releases since Debian 3.1 (Sarge); the text changed 9 times.

  1. 3.1
  2. 4.0
  3. 5.0
  4. 6.0–7
  5. 8
  6. 9–10
  7. 11
  8. 12
  9. 13
  10. Arch

--color since Debian 6.0 (Squeeze); --lang since Debian 6.0 (Squeeze); --style since Debian 6.0 (Squeeze); -n since Debian 8 (Jessie).

Author

Written by Bruno Haible.

Reporting bugs

Report bugs in the bug tracker at <https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/gettext> or by email to <[email protected]>.

From gettext 1.0-2 in Arch Linux 2026-11-01. Parsed by carta from the page's man source.