     xgettext [OPTION] [INPUTFILE] ...

The xgettext program extracts translatable strings from given input files.

Input file location
-------------------

INPUTFILE ...
     Input files.

-f FILE
--files-from=FILE
     Read the names of the input files from FILE instead of getting them from the command line.

-D DIRECTORY
--directory=DIRECTORY
     Add DIRECTORY to the list of directories.  Source files are searched relative to this list of directories.  The resulting .po file will be written relative to the current directory, though.

If INPUTFILE is -, standard input is read.

Output file location
--------------------

-d NAME
--default-domain=NAME
     Use NAME.po for output (instead of messages.po).

-o FILE
--output=FILE
     Write output to specified file (instead of NAME.po or messages.po).

-p DIR
--output-dir=DIR
     Output files will be placed in directory DIR.

If the output FILE is - or /dev/stdout, the output is written to standard output.

Choice of input file language
-----------------------------

-L NAME
--language=NAME
     Specifies the language of the input files.  The supported languages are C, C++, ObjectiveC, PO, Shell, Python, Lisp, EmacsLisp, librep, Scheme, Smalltalk, Java, JavaProperties, C#, awk, YCP, Tcl, Perl, PHP, Ruby, GCC-source, NXStringTable, RST, RSJ, Glade, Lua, JavaScript, Vala, GSettings, Desktop.

-C
--c++
     This is a shorthand for --language=C++.

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

Input file interpretation
-------------------------

--from-code=NAME
     Specifies the encoding of the input files.  This option is needed only if some untranslated message strings or their corresponding comments contain non-ASCII characters.  Note that Tcl and Glade input files are always assumed to be in UTF-8, regardless of this option.

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

Operation mode
--------------

-j
--join-existing
     Join messages with existing file.

-x FILE
--exclude-file=FILE
     Entries from FILE are not extracted.  FILE should be a PO or POT file.

-c[TAG]
--add-comments[=TAG]
     Place comment blocks starting with TAG and preceding keyword lines in the output file.  Without a TAG, the option means to put all comment blocks preceding keyword lines in the output file.

     Note that comment blocks are only extracted if there is no program code between the comment and the string that gets extracted. For example, in the following C source code:

          /* This is the first comment.  */
          gettext ("foo");

          /* This is the second comment: not extracted  */
          gettext (
            "bar");

          gettext (
            /* This is the third comment.  */
            "baz");

          /* This is the fourth comment.  */

          gettext ("I love blank lines in my programs");

     the second comment line will not be extracted, because there is a line with some tokens between the comment line and the line that contains the string.  But the fourth comment is extracted, because between it and the line with the string there is merely a blank line.

--check[=CHECK]
     Perform a syntax check on msgid and msgid_plural.  The supported checks are:

     ellipsis-unicode
          Prefer Unicode ellipsis character over ASCII ...

     space-ellipsis
          Prohibit whitespace before an ellipsis character

     quote-unicode
          Prefer Unicode quotation marks over ASCII "'`

     bullet-unicode
          Prefer Unicode bullet character over ASCII * or -

     The option has an effect on all input files.  To enable or disable checks for a certain string, you can mark it with an xgettext: special comment in the source file.  For example, if you specify the --check=space-ellipsis option, but want to suppress the check on a particular string, add the following comment:

          /* xgettext: no-space-ellipsis-check */
          gettext ("We really want a space before ellipsis here ...");

     The xgettext: comment can be followed by flags separated with a comma.  The possible flags are of the form [no-]NAME-check, where NAME is the name of a valid syntax check.  If a flag is prefixed by no-, the meaning is negated.

     Some tests apply the checks to each sentence within the msgid, rather than the whole string.  xgettext detects the end of sentence by performing a pattern match, which usually looks for a period followed by a certain number of spaces.  The number is specified with the --sentence-end option.

--sentence-end[=TYPE]
     The supported values are:

     single-space
          Expect at least one whitespace after a period

     double-space
          Expect at least two whitespaces after a period

Language specific options
-------------------------

-a
--extract-all
     Extract all strings.

     This option has an effect with most languages, namely C, C++, ObjectiveC, Shell, Python, Lisp, EmacsLisp, librep, Java, C#, awk, Tcl, Perl, PHP, GCC-source, Glade, Lua, JavaScript, Vala, GSettings.

-k[KEYWORDSPEC]
--keyword[=KEYWORDSPEC]
     Specify KEYWORDSPEC as an additional keyword to be looked for. Without a KEYWORDSPEC, the option means to not use default keywords.

     If KEYWORDSPEC is a C identifier ID, xgettext looks for strings in the first argument of each call to the function or macro ID.  If KEYWORDSPEC is of the form ID:ARGNUM, xgettext looks for strings in the ARGNUMth argument of the call.  If KEYWORDSPEC is of the form ID:ARGNUM1,ARGNUM2, xgettext looks for strings in the ARGNUM1st argument and in the ARGNUM2nd argument of the call, and treats them as singular/plural variants for a message with plural handling.  Also, if KEYWORDSPEC is of the form ID:CONTEXTARGNUMc,ARGNUM or ID:ARGNUM,CONTEXTARGNUMc, xgettext treats strings in the CONTEXTARGNUMth argument as a context specifier. And, as a special-purpose support for GNOME, if KEYWORDSPEC is of the form ID:ARGNUMg, xgettext recognizes the ARGNUMth argument as a string with context, using the GNOME glib syntax "msgctxt|msgid". Furthermore, if KEYWORDSPEC is of the form ID:...,TOTALNUMARGSt, xgettext recognizes this argument specification only if the number of actual arguments is equal to TOTALNUMARGS.  This is useful for disambiguating overloaded function calls in C++. Finally, if KEYWORDSPEC is of the form ID:ARGNUM...,"XCOMMENT", xgettext, when extracting a message from the specified argument strings, adds an extracted comment XCOMMENT to the message.  Note that when used through a normal shell command line, the double-quotes around the XCOMMENT need to be escaped.

     This option has an effect with most languages, namely C, C++, ObjectiveC, Shell, Python, Lisp, EmacsLisp, librep, Java, C#, awk, Tcl, Perl, PHP, GCC-source, Glade, Lua, JavaScript, Vala, GSettings, Desktop.

     The default keyword specifications, which are always looked for if not explicitly disabled, are language dependent.  They are:

       * For C, C++, and GCC-source: gettext, dgettext:2, dcgettext:2, ngettext:1,2, dngettext:2,3, dcngettext:2,3, gettext_noop, and pgettext:1c,2, dpgettext:2c,3, dcpgettext:2c,3, npgettext:1c,2,3, dnpgettext:2c,3,4, dcnpgettext:2c,3,4.

       * For Objective C: Like for C, and also NSLocalizedString, _, NSLocalizedStaticString, __.

       * For Shell scripts: gettext, ngettext:1,2, eval_gettext, eval_ngettext:1,2, eval_pgettext:1c,2, eval_npgettext:1c,2,3.

       * For Python: gettext, ugettext, dgettext:2, ngettext:1,2, ungettext:1,2, dngettext:2,3, _.

       * For Lisp: gettext, ngettext:1,2, gettext-noop.

       * For EmacsLisp: _.

       * For librep: _.

       * For Scheme: gettext, ngettext:1,2, gettext-noop.

       * For Java: GettextResource.gettext:2, GettextResource.ngettext:2,3, GettextResource.pgettext:2c,3, GettextResource.npgettext:2c,3,4, gettext, ngettext:1,2, pgettext:1c,2, npgettext:1c,2,3, getString.

       * For C#: GetString, GetPluralString:1,2, GetParticularString:1c,2, GetParticularPluralString:1c,2,3.

       * For awk: dcgettext, dcngettext:1,2.

       * For Tcl: ::msgcat::mc.

       * For Perl: gettext, %gettext, $gettext, dgettext:2, dcgettext:2, ngettext:1,2, dngettext:2,3, dcngettext:2,3, gettext_noop.

       * For PHP: _, gettext, dgettext:2, dcgettext:2, ngettext:1,2, dngettext:2,3, dcngettext:2,3.

       * For Glade 1: label, title, text, format, copyright, comments, preview_text, tooltip.

       * For Lua: _, gettext.gettext, gettext.dgettext:2, gettext.dcgettext:2, gettext.ngettext:1,2, gettext.dngettext:2,3, gettext.dcngettext:2,3.

       * For JavaScript: _, gettext, dgettext:2, dcgettext:2, ngettext:1,2, dngettext:2,3, pgettext:1c,2, dpgettext:2c,3.

       * For Vala: _, Q_, N_, NC_, dgettext:2, dcgettext:2, ngettext:1,2, dngettext:2,3, dpgettext:2c,3, dpgettext2:2c,3.

       * For Desktop: Name, GenericName, Comment, Keywords.

     To disable the default keyword specifications, the option -k or --keyword or --keyword=, without a KEYWORDSPEC, can be used.

--flag=WORD:ARG:FLAG
     Specifies additional flags for strings occurring as part of the ARGth argument of the function WORD.  The possible flags are the possible format string indicators, such as c-format, and their negations, such as no-c-format, possibly prefixed with pass-. The meaning of --flag=FUNCTION:ARG:LANG-format is that in language LANG, the specified FUNCTION expects as ARGth argument a format string.  (For those of you familiar with GCC function attributes, --flag=FUNCTION:ARG:c-format is roughly equivalent to the declaration __attribute__ ((__format__ (__printf__, ARG, ...))) attached to FUNCTION in a C source file.) For example, if you use the error function from GNU libc, you can specify its behaviour through --flag=error:3:c-format.  The effect of this specification is that xgettext will mark as format strings all gettext invocations that occur as ARGth argument of FUNCTION. This is useful when such strings contain no format string directives: together with the checks done by msgfmt -c it will ensure that translators cannot accidentally use format string directives that would lead to a crash at runtime. The meaning of --flag=FUNCTION:ARG:pass-LANG-format is that in language LANG, if the FUNCTION call occurs in a position that must yield a format string, then its ARGth argument must yield a format string of the same type as well.  (If you know GCC function attributes, the --flag=FUNCTION:ARG:pass-c-format option is roughly equivalent to the declaration __attribute__ ((__format_arg__ (ARG))) attached to FUNCTION in a C source file.) For example, if you use the _ shortcut for the gettext function, you should use --flag=_:1:pass-c-format.  The effect of this specification is that xgettext will propagate a format string requirement for a _("string") call to its first argument, the literal "string", and thus mark it as a format string. This is useful when such strings contain no format string directives: together with the checks done by msgfmt -c it will ensure that translators cannot accidentally use format string directives that would lead to a crash at runtime. This option has an effect with most languages, namely 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. This option has an effect only with the languages C, C++, ObjectiveC.

--qt
     Recognize Qt format strings. This option has an effect only with the language C++.

--kde
     Recognize KDE 4 format strings. This option has an effect only with the language C++.

--boost
     Recognize Boost format strings. This option has an effect only with the language C++.

--debug
     Use the flags c-format and possible-c-format to show who was responsible for marking a message as a format string.  The latter form is used if the xgettext program decided, the former form is used if the programmer prescribed it.

     By default only the c-format form is used.  The translator should not have to care about these details.

This implementation of xgettext is able to process a few awkward cases, like strings in preprocessor macros, ANSI concatenation of adjacent strings, and escaped end of lines for continued strings.

Output details
--------------

--color
--color=WHEN
     Specify whether or when to use colors and other text attributes. See The --color option for details.

--style=STYLE_FILE
     Specify the CSS style rule file to use for --color. See The --style option for details.

--force-po
     Always write an output file even if no message is defined.

-i
--indent
     Write the .po file using indented style.

--no-location
     Do not write #: FILENAME:LINE lines.  Note that using this option makes it harder for technically skilled translators to understand each message's context.

-n
--add-location=TYPE
     Generate #: FILENAME:LINE lines (default).

     The optional TYPE can be either full, file, or never.  If it is not given or full, it generates the lines with both file name and line number.  If it is file, the line number part is omitted.  If it is never, it completely suppresses the lines (same as --no-location).

--strict
     Write out a strict Uniforum conforming PO file.  Note that this Uniforum format should be avoided because it doesn't support the GNU extensions.

--properties-output
     Write out a Java ResourceBundle in Java .properties syntax.  Note that this file format doesn't support plural forms and silently drops obsolete messages.

--stringtable-output
     Write out a NeXTstep/GNUstep localized resource file in .strings syntax. Note that this file format doesn't support plural forms.

--its=FILE
     Use ITS rules defined in FILE. Note that this is only effective with XML files.

--itstool
     Write out comments recognized by itstool (http://itstool.org). Note that this is only effective with XML files.

-w NUMBER
--width=NUMBER
     Set the output page width.  Long strings in the output files will be split across multiple lines in order to ensure that each line's width (= number of screen columns) is less or equal to the given NUMBER.

--no-wrap
     Do not break long message lines.  Message lines whose width exceeds the output page width will not be split into several lines.  Only file reference lines which are wider than the output page width will be split.

-s
--sort-output
     Generate sorted output (deprecated).  Note that using this option makes it much harder for the translator to understand each message's context.

-F
--sort-by-file
     Sort output by file location.

--omit-header
     Don't write header with msgid "" entry.

     This is useful for testing purposes because it eliminates a source of variance for generated .gmo files.  With --omit-header, two invocations of xgettext on the same files with the same options at different times are guaranteed to produce the same results.

     Note that using this option will lead to an error if the resulting file would not entirely be in ASCII.

--copyright-holder=STRING
     Set the copyright holder in the output.  STRING should be the copyright holder of the surrounding package.  (Note that the msgstr strings, extracted from the package's sources, belong to the copyright holder of the package.)  Translators are expected to transfer or disclaim the copyright for their translations, so that package maintainers can distribute them without legal risk.  If STRING is empty, the output files are marked as being in the public domain; in this case, the translators are expected to disclaim their copyright, again so that package maintainers can distribute them without legal risk.

     The default value for STRING is the Free Software Foundation, Inc., simply because xgettext was first used in the GNU project.

--foreign-user
     Omit FSF copyright in output.  This option is equivalent to --copyright-holder=''.  It can be useful for packages outside the GNU project that want their translations to be in the public domain.

--package-name=PACKAGE
     Set the package name in the header of the output.

--package-version=VERSION
     Set the package version in the header of the output.  This option has an effect only if the --package-name option is also used.

--msgid-bugs-address=EMAIL@ADDRESS
     Set the reporting address for msgid bugs.  This is the email address or URL to which the translators shall report bugs in the untranslated strings:

       - Strings which are not entire sentences; see the maintainer guidelines in Preparing Strings.

       - Strings which use unclear terms or require additional context to be understood.

       - Strings which make invalid assumptions about notation of date, time or money.

       - Pluralisation problems.

       - Incorrect English spelling.

       - Incorrect formatting.

     It can be your email address, or a mailing list address where translators can write to without being subscribed, or the URL of a web page through which the translators can contact you.

     The default value is empty, which means that translators will be clueless! Don't forget to specify this option.

-m[STRING]
--msgstr-prefix[=STRING]
     Use STRING (or "" if not specified) as prefix for msgstr values.

-M[STRING]
--msgstr-suffix[=STRING]
     Use STRING (or "" if not specified) as suffix for msgstr values.

Informative output
------------------

-h
--help
     Display this help and exit.

-V
--version
     Output version information and exit.

-v
--verbose
     Increase verbosity level.