1. NAME▲

msgmerge - merge message catalog and template

2. SYNOPSIS ▲

msgmerge [OPTION] def.po ref.pot

3. DESCRIPTION ▲

Merges two Uniforum style .po files together. The def.po file is an existing PO file with translations which will be taken over to the newly created file as long as they still match; comments will be preserved, but extracted comments and file positions will be discarded. The ref.pot file is the last created PO file with up-to-date source references but old translations, or a PO Template file (generally created by xgettext); any translations or comments in the file will be discarded, however dot comments and file positions will be preserved. Where an exact match cannot be found, fuzzy matching is used to produce better results.

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

3.1. Input file location: ▲

  • def.po
        translations referring to old sources
  • ref.pot
        references to new sources
  • -D, --directory=DIRECTORY
        add DIRECTORY to list for input files search
  • -C, --compendium=FILE
        additional library of message translations, may be specified more than once

3.2. Operation mode: ▲

  • -U, --update
        update def.po, do nothing if def.po already up to date

3.3. 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 -.

Output file location in update mode: The result is written back to def.po.

  • --backup=CONTROL
        make a backup of def.po
  • --suffix=SUFFIX
        override the usual backup suffix

The version control method may be selected via the --backup option or through the VERSION_CONTROL environment variable. Here are the values:

  • none, off
        never make backups (even if --backup is given)
  • numbered, t
        make numbered backups
  • existing, nil
        numbered if numbered backups exist, simple otherwise
  • simple, never
        always make simple backups

The backup suffix is `~', unless set with --suffix or the SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX environment variable.

3.4. Operation modifiers: ▲

  • -m, --multi-domain
        apply ref.pot to each of the domains in def.po
  • -N, --no-fuzzy-matching
        do not use fuzzy matching
  • --previous
        keep previous msgids of translated messages

3.5. Input file syntax: ▲

  • -P, --properties-input
        input files are in Java .properties syntax
  • --stringtable-input
        input files are in NeXTstep/GNUstep .strings syntax

3.6. 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
  • --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

3.7. Informative output: ▲

  • -h, --help
        display this help and exit
  • -V, --version
        output version information and exit
  • -v, --verbose
        increase verbosity level
  • -q, --quiet, --silent
        suppress progress indicators

4. AUTHOR ▲

Written by Peter Miller.

5. REPORTING BUGS ▲

Report bugs to <>.

6. COPYRIGHT ▲

Copyright © 1995-1998, 2000-2010 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.

7. SEE ALSO ▲

The full documentation for

msgmerge is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the

info and

msgmerge programs are properly installed at your site, the command

info msgmerge

should give you access to the complete manual.