GENCAT(1)               System General Commands Manual               GENCAT(1)

NAME
     gencat - NLS catalog compiler

SYNOPSIS
     gencat output-file input-file [...]

DESCRIPTION
     The gencat utility merges the text NLS (National Language Support) in
     input-file 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-file
     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 com-
            ment.  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 com-
            ment.

     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 mes-
            sages 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.

     The gencat utility exits 0 on success or >0 if an error occurred.

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

STANDARDS
     The gencat utility is compliant with SUS.

Interix                          June 11, 2006                         Interix