# MSGFMT

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
AUTHOR
REPORTING BUGS
COPYRIGHT
SEE ALSO

## NAME

| msgfmt - compile message catalog to binary format

## SYNOPSIS

| msgfmt [OPTION] filename.po ...

## DESCRIPTION

| Generate binary message catalog from textual translation description.

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

| Input file location:

| filename.po ...

| input files

| -D, --directory=DIRECTORY

| add DIRECTORY to list for input files search

| If input file is -, standard input is read.

| Operation mode:

| -j, --java

| Java mode: generate a Java ResourceBundle class

| --java2

| like --java, and assume Java2 (JDK 1.2 or higher)

| --tcl

| Tcl mode: generate a tcl/msgcat .msg file

| Output file location:

| -o, --output-file=FILE

| write output to specified file

| --strict

| enable strict Uniforum mode

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

| Output file location in Java mode:

| -r, --resource=RESOURCE

| resource name

| -l, --locale=LOCALE

| locale name, either language or language_COUNTRY

| -d DIRECTORY

| 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.

| Output file location in Tcl mode:

| -l, --locale=LOCALE

| locale name, either language or language_COUNTRY

| -d DIRECTORY

| base directory of .msg message catalogs

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

| Input file syntax:

| -P, --properties-input

| input files are in Java .properties syntax

| Input file interpretation:

| -c, --check

| perform all the checks implied by --check-format, --check-header, --check-domain

| --check-format

| check language dependent format strings

| --check-header

| verify presence and contents of the header entry

| --check-domain

| check for conflicts between domain directives and the --output-file option

| -C, --check-compatibility

| check that GNU msgfmt behaves like X/Open msgfmt

| --check-accelerators[=CHAR]

| check presence of keyboard accelerators for menu items

| -f, --use-fuzzy

| use fuzzy entries in output

| Output details:

| -a, --alignment=NUMBER

| align strings to NUMBER bytes (default: 1)

| --no-hash

| binary file will not include the hash table

| Informative output:

| -h, --help

| display this help and exit

| -V, --version

| output version information and exit

| --statistics

| print statistics about translations

| -v, --verbose

| increase verbosity level

## AUTHOR

| Written by Ulrich Drepper.

## REPORTING BUGS

| Report bugs to <bug-gnu-gettext@gnu.org>.

## COPYRIGHT

| Copyright 1995-1998, 2000-2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

## SEE ALSO

| 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.