MSGFMT(1) User Commands MSGFMT(1)

msgfmt - compile message catalog to binary format

msgfmt [OPTION] filename.po ...

Generate binary message catalog from textual translation description.

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

input files
add DIRECTORY to list for input files search

If input file is -, standard input is read.

Java mode: generate a Java ResourceBundle class
like --java, and assume Java2 (JDK 1.2 or higher)
C# mode: generate a .NET .dll file
C# resources mode: generate a .NET .resources file
Tcl mode: generate a tcl/msgcat .msg file
Qt mode: generate a Qt .qm file
Desktop Entry mode: generate a .desktop file
XML mode: generate XML file

write output to specified file
enable strict Uniforum mode

If output file is -, output is written to standard output.

resource name
locale name, either language or language_COUNTRY
produce a .java file, instead of a .class file
base directory of classes directory hierarchy

The class name is determined by appending the locale name to the resource name, separated with an underscore. The -d option is mandatory. The class is written under the specified directory.

resource name
locale name, either language or language_COUNTRY
base directory for locale dependent .dll files

The -l and -d options are mandatory. The .dll file is written in a subdirectory of the specified directory whose name depends on the locale.

locale name, either language or language_COUNTRY
base directory of .msg message catalogs

The -l and -d options are mandatory. The .msg file is written in the specified directory.

locale name, either language or language_COUNTRY
write output to specified file
a .desktop file used as a template
base directory of .po files
look for WORD as an additional keyword
do not to use default keywords

The -l, -o, and --template options are mandatory. If -D is specified, input files are read from the directory instead of the command line arguments.

locale name, either language or language_COUNTRY
recognise the specified XML language
write output to specified file
an XML file used as a template
base directory of .po files

The -l, -o, and --template options are mandatory. If -D is specified, input files are read from the directory instead of the command line arguments.

input files are in Java .properties syntax
input files are in NeXTstep/GNUstep .strings syntax

perform all the checks implied by --check-format, --check-header, --check-domain
check language dependent format strings
verify presence and contents of the header entry
check for conflicts between domain directives and the --output-file option
check that GNU msgfmt behaves like X/Open msgfmt
check presence of keyboard accelerators for menu items
use fuzzy entries in output

don't convert the messages to UTF-8 encoding
don't pre-expand ISO C 99 <inttypes.h> format string directive macros
align strings to NUMBER bytes (default: 1)
write out 32-bit numbers in the given byte order (big or little, default depends on platform)
binary file will not include the hash table

display this help and exit
output version information and exit
print statistics about translations
increase verbosity level

Written by Ulrich Drepper.

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

Copyright © 1995-2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later https://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.

The full documentation for msgfmt is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and msgfmt programs are properly installed at your site, the command

info msgfmt

should give you access to the complete manual.

September 2023 GNU gettext-tools 0.22.2