GETTEXT(3)

GETTEXT(3) | Library Functions Manual | GETTEXT(3)

# NAME

`gettext`, `dgettext`, `ngettext`, `dngettext`, `textdomain`, `bindtextdomain`, `bind_textdomain_codeset`, `dcgettext`, `dcngettext` —
message handling functions

# LIBRARY

Internationalized Message Handling Library (libintl, -lintl)

# SYNOPSIS

`#include <libintl.h>`

char *
`gettext`(const char *msgid);

char *
`dgettext`(const char *domainname, const char *msgid);

char *
`ngettext`(const char *msgid1, const char *msgid2, unsigned long int n);

char *
`dngettext`(const char *domainname, const char *msgid1, const char *msgid2, unsigned long int n);

char *
`textdomain`(const char *domainname);

char *
`bindtextdomain`(const char *domainname, const char *dirname);

char *
`bind_textdomain_codeset`(const char *domainname, const char *codeset);

`#include <libintl.h>`
`#include <locale.h>`

char *
`dcgettext`(const char *domainname, const char *msgid, int category);

char *
`dcngettext`(const char *domainname, const char *msgid1, const char *msgid2, unsigned long int n, int category);

# DESCRIPTION

The `gettext`(), `dgettext`(), and `dcgettext`() functions attempt to retrieve a target string based on the specified msgid argument within the context of a specific domain and the current locale. The length of strings returned by `gettext`(), `dgettext`(), and `dcgettext`() is undetermined until the function is called. The msgid argument is a nul-terminated string.

The `ngettext`(), `dngettext`(), and `dcngettext`() functions are equivalent to `gettext`(), `dgettext`(), and `dcgettext`(), respectively, except for the handling of plural forms. The `ngettext`(), `dngettext`(), and `dcngettext`() functions search for the message string using the msgid1 argument as the key, using the argument n to determine the plural form. If no message catalogs are found, msgid1 is returned if n `== 1`, otherwise msgid2 is returned.

The `LANGUAGE` environment variable is examined first to determine the message catalogs to be used. The value of the `LANGUAGE` environment variable is a list of locale names separated by colon (:) character. If the `LANGUAGE` environment variable is defined, each locale name is tried in the specified order and if a message catalog containing the requested message is found, the message is returned. If the `LANGUAGE` environment variable is defined but failed to locate a message catalog, the msgid string will be returned.

If the `LANGUAGE` environment variable is not defined, `LC_ALL`, `LC_xxx`, and `LANG` environment variables are examined to locate the message catalog, following the convention used by the setlocale(3) function.

The pathname used to locate the message catalog is dirname/locale/category/domainname.mo, where dirname is the directory specified by `bindtextdomain`(), locale is a locale name determined by the definition of environment variables, category is `LC_MESSAGES` if `gettext`(), `ngettext`(), `dgettext`(), or `dngettext`() is called, otherwise `LC_xxx` where the name is the same as the locale category name specified by the category argument of `dcgettext`() or `dcngettext`(). domainname is the name of the domain specified by `textdomain`() or the domainname argument of `dgettext`(), `dngettext`(), `dcgettext`(), or `dcngettext`().

For `gettext`() and `ngettext`(), the domain used is set by the last valid call to `textdomain`(). If a valid call to `textdomain`() has not been made, the default domain (called messages) is used.

For `dgettext`(), `dngettext`(), `dcgettext`(), and `dcngettext`(), the domain used is specified by the domainname argument. The domainname argument is equivalent in syntax and meaning to the domainname argument to `textdomain`(), except that the selection of the domain is valid only for the duration of the `dgettext`(), `dngettext`(), `dcgettext`(), or `dcngettext`() function call.

The `dcgettext`() and `dcngettext`() functions require additional argument category for retrieving message string for other than `LC_MESSAGES` category. Available value for the category argument are `LC_CTYPE`, `LC_COLLATE`, `LC_MESSAGES`, `LC_MONETARY`, `LC_NUMERIC`, and `LC_TIME`. The call of `dcgettext`(domainname, msgid, LC_MESSAGES) is equivalent to `dgettext`(domainname, msgid). Note that `LC_ALL` must not be used.

The `textdomain`() function sets or queries the name of the current domain of the active `LC_MESSAGES` locale category. The domainname argument is a nul-terminated string that can contain only the characters allowed in legal filenames.

The domainname argument is the unique name of a domain on the system. If there are multiple versions of the same domain on one system, namespace collisions can be avoided by using `bindtextdomain`(). If `textdomain`() is not called, a default domain is selected. The setting of domain made by the last valid call to `textdomain`() remains valid across subsequent calls to setlocale(3), and `gettext`().

The domainname argument is applied to the currently active LC_MESSAGES locale.

The current setting of the domain can be queried without affecting the current state of the domain by calling `textdomain`() with domainname set to the `NULL` pointer. Calling `textdomain`() with a domainname argument of a `NULL` string sets the domain to the default domain (messages).

The `bindtextdomain`() function binds the path predicate for a message domain domainname to the value contained in dirname. If domainname is a non-empty string and has not been bound previously, `bindtextdomain`() binds domainname with dirname.

If domainname is a non-empty string and has been bound previously, `bindtextdomain`() replaces the old binding with dirname. The dirname argument can be an absolute pathname being resolved when `gettext`(), `ngettext`(), `dgettext`(), `dngettext`(), `dcgettext`(), or `dcngettext`() are called. If domainname is a `NULL` pointer or an empty string, `bindtextdomain`() returns a `NULL` pointer. If `bindtextdomain`() is not called, implementation-defined default directory is used.

The `bind_textdomain_codeset`() function can be used to specify the output codeset for message catalogs for domain domainname. The codeset argument must be a valid codeset name which can be used for the iconv_open(3) function.

If the codeset argument is the `NULL` pointer, `bind_textdomain_codeset`() returns the currently selected codeset for the domain with the name domainname. It returns a `NULL` pointer if no codeset has yet been selected.

The `bind_textdomain_codeset`() function can be used several times. If used multiple times, with the same domainname argument, the later call overrides the settings made by the earlier one.

The `bind_textdomain_codeset`() function returns a pointer to a string containing the name of the selected codeset.

# SEE ALSO

setlocale(3), nls(7)

# HISTORY

The functions are implemented by Citrus project, based on the documentations for GNU gettext.

# BUGS

`bind_textdomain_codeset`() does not work at this moment (it always fails).

November 10, 2004 | NetBSD 9.0