Manual Pages for UNIX Operating System command usage for man gencat

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 data-
     base 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  fol-
     lows. 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  com-
                           ment.  (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.





SunOS 5.11           Last change: 1 Feb 1995                    1






User Commands                                           gencat(1)



     m message-text        The m denotes the message  identifier,
                           a number in the range (1-{NL_MSGMAX}).
                           The message-text is stored in the mes-
                           sage  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 sur-
                           round message-text  so  that  trailing
                           spaces  or  null  (empty) messages are
                           visible in a message source line.   By
                           default,  or if an empty $quote direc-
                           tive  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:



















SunOS 5.11           Last change: 1 Feb 1995                    2






User Commands                                           gencat(1)



     _______________________________________________________________
    | 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, stan-
                 dard input is used. The format of  message  text
                 source  files  is defined in Message Text Source
                 File Format.


ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
     See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment
     variables that affect the execution of gencat: LANG, LC_ALL,



SunOS 5.11           Last change: 1 Feb 1995                    3






User Commands                                           gencat(1)



     LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.

EXIT STATUS
     The following exit values are returned:

     0      Successful completion.


     >0     An error occurred.


ATTRIBUTES
     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:



     ____________________________________________________________
    |       ATTRIBUTE TYPE        |       ATTRIBUTE VALUE       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Availability                | text/locale                 |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | CSI                         | enabled                     |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Interface Stability         | Committed                   |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Standard                    | See standards(5).           |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|


SEE ALSO
     mkmsgs(1),     catgets(3C),     catopen(3C),     gettxt(3C),
     nl_types.h(3HEAD), attributes(5), environ(5), standards(5)






















SunOS 5.11           Last change: 1 Feb 1995                    4