| MSGPRE(1) | User Commands | MSGPRE(1) |
NAME
msgpre - pretranslate a message catalog
SYNOPSIS
msgpre [OPTION...]
DESCRIPTION
Pretranslates a translation catalog.
Warning: The pretranslations might not be what you expect. They might be of the wrong form, be of poor quality, or reflect some biases.
Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
Input file location:
- -i, --input=INPUTFILE
- input PO file
- -D, --directory=DIRECTORY
- add DIRECTORY to list for input files search
If no input file is given or if it 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 -.
Message selection:
- --keep-fuzzy
- Keep fuzzy messages unmodified. Pretranslate only untranslated messages.
Large Language Model (LLM) options:
- --species=TYPE
- Specifies the type of LLM. The default and only valid value is 'ollama'.
- --url=URL
- Specifies the URL of the server that runs the LLM.
- -m, --model=MODEL
- Specifies the model to use.
- --prompt=TEXT
- Specifies the prompt to use before standard input.
- --postprocess=COMMAND
- Specifies a command to post-process the output.
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:
- --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
- --force-po
- write PO file even if empty
- --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
- -q, --quiet, --silent
- suppress progress indicators
AUTHOR
Written by Bruno Haible.
REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs in the bug tracker at https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/gettext or by email to <bug-gettext@gnu.org>.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2001-2026 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.
SEE ALSO
The full documentation for msgpre is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and msgpre programs are properly installed at your site, the command
- info msgpre
should give you access to the complete manual.
| January 2026 | GNU gettext-tools 1.0 |