Xgettext (1) Linux Manual Page

xgettext – extract gettext strings from source

Synopsis

xgettext [OPTION] [INPUTFILE]…

Description

Extract translatable strings from given input files.

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

Input file location:

INPUTFILE …: input files
-f, –files-from=FILE: get list of input files from FILE
-D, –directory=DIRECTORY: add DIRECTORY to list for input files search

If input file is -, standard input is read.

Output file location:

-d, –default-domain=NAME: use NAME.po for output (instead of messages.po)
-o, –output=FILE: write output to specified file
-p, –output-dir=DIR: output files will be placed in directory DIR

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

Choice of input file language:

-L, –language=NAME: recognise the specified language (C, C++, ObjectiveC, PO, Shell, Python, Lisp, EmacsLisp, librep, Scheme, Smalltalk, Java, JavaProperties, C#, awk, YCP, Tcl, Perl, PHP, GCC-source, NXStringTable, RST, Glade, Lua, JavaScript, Vala, Desktop)
-C, –c++: shorthand for –language=C++

By default the language is guessed depending on the input file name extension.

Input file interpretation:

–from-code=NAME: encoding of input files (except for Python, Tcl, Glade)

By default the input files are assumed to be in ASCII.

Operation mode:

-j, –join-existing: join messages with existing file
-x, –exclude-file=FILE.po: entries from FILE.po are not extracted
-cTAG, –add-comments=TAG: place comment blocks starting with TAG and preceding keyword lines in output file
-c, –add-comments: place all comment blocks preceding keyword lines in output file
–check=NAME: perform syntax check on messages (ellipsis-unicode, space-ellipsis,; quote-unicode, bullet-unicode)
–sentence-end=TYPE: type describing the end of sentence (single-space, which is the default,; or double-space)

Language specific options:

-a, –extract-all: extract all strings (only languages C, C++, ObjectiveC, Shell, Python, Lisp, EmacsLisp, librep, Scheme, Java, C#, awk, Tcl, Perl, PHP, GCC-source, Glade, Lua, JavaScript, Vala)
-kWORD, –keyword=WORD: look for WORD as an additional keyword
-k, –keyword: do not to use default keywords (only languages C, C++, ObjectiveC, Shell, Python, Lisp, EmacsLisp, librep, Scheme, Java, C#, awk, Tcl, Perl, PHP, GCC-source, Glade, Lua, JavaScript, Vala, Desktop)
–flag=WORD:ARG:FLAG: additional flag for strings inside the argument number ARG of keyword WORD; (only languages C, C++, ObjectiveC, Shell, Python, Lisp, EmacsLisp, librep, Scheme, Java, C#, awk, YCP, Tcl, Perl, PHP, GCC-source, Lua, JavaScript, Vala)
-T, –trigraphs: understand ANSI C trigraphs for input (only languages C, C++, ObjectiveC)
–its=FILE: apply ITS rules from FILE (only XML based languages)
–qt: recognize Qt format strings (only language C++)
–kde: recognize KDE 4 format strings (only language C++)
–boost: recognize Boost format strings (only language C++)
–debug: more detailed formatstring recognition result

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
-e, –no-escape: do not use C escapes in output (default)
-E, –escape: use C escapes in output, no extended chars
–force-po: write PO file even if empty
-i, –indent: write the .po file using indented style
–no-location: do not write ‘#: filename:line’ lines
-n, –add-location: generate ‘#: filename:line’ lines (default)
–strict: write out strict Uniforum conforming .po file
–properties-output: write out a Java .properties file
–stringtable-output: write out a NeXTstep/GNUstep .strings file
–itstool: write out itstool comments
-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
–omit-header: don’t write header with ‘msgid ""’ entry
–copyright-holder=STRING: set copyright holder in output
–foreign-user: omit FSF copyright in output for foreign user
–package-name=PACKAGE: set package name in output
–package-version=VERSION: set package version in output
–msgid-bugs-address=EMAIL@ADDRESS: set report address for msgid bugs
-m[STRING], –msgstr-prefix[=STRING]: use STRING or "" as prefix for msgstr values
-M[STRING], –msgstr-suffix[=STRING]: use STRING or "" as suffix for msgstr values

Informative output:

-h, –help: display this help and exit
-V, –version: output version information and exit

Author

Written by Ulrich Drepper.

Reporting Bugs

Report bugs to <bug-gnu-gettext [at] gnu.org>.

Copyright

Copyright © 1995-1998, 2000-2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://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.

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