1@c This file is part of the GNU gettext manual. 2@c Copyright (C) 1995-2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 3@c See the file gettext.texi for copying conditions. 4 5@pindex gettext 6@cindex @code{gettext} program, usage 7@example 8gettext [@var{option}] [[@var{textdomain}] @var{msgid}] 9gettext [@var{option}] -s [@var{msgid}]... 10@end example 11 12@cindex lookup message translation 13The @code{gettext} program displays the native language translation of a 14textual message. 15 16@noindent @strong{Arguments} 17 18@table @samp 19@item -c @var{context} 20@itemx --context=@var{context} 21@opindex -c@r{, @code{gettext} option} 22@opindex --context@r{, @code{gettext} option} 23Specify the context for the messages to be translated. 24See @ref{Contexts} for details. 25 26@item -d @var{textdomain} 27@itemx --domain=@var{textdomain} 28@opindex -d@r{, @code{gettext} option} 29@opindex --domain@r{, @code{gettext} option} 30Retrieve translated messages from @var{textdomain}. Usually a @var{textdomain} 31corresponds to a package, a program, or a module of a program. 32 33@item -e 34@opindex -e@r{, @code{gettext} option} 35Enable expansion of some escape sequences. This option is for compatibility 36with the @samp{echo} program or shell built-in. The escape sequences 37@samp{\a}, @samp{\b}, @samp{\c}, @samp{\f}, @samp{\n}, @samp{\r}, @samp{\t}, 38@samp{\v}, @samp{\\}, and @samp{\} followed by one to three octal digits, are 39interpreted like the System V @samp{echo} program did. 40 41@item -E 42@opindex -E@r{, @code{gettext} option} 43This option is only for compatibility with the @samp{echo} program or shell 44built-in. It has no effect. 45 46@item -h 47@itemx --help 48@opindex -h@r{, @code{gettext} option} 49@opindex --help@r{, @code{gettext} option} 50Display this help and exit. 51 52@item -n 53@opindex -n@r{, @code{gettext} option} 54This option has only an effect if the @code{-s} option is given. It 55suppresses the additional newline at the end. 56 57@item -V 58@itemx --version 59@opindex -V@r{, @code{gettext} option} 60@opindex --version@r{, @code{gettext} option} 61Output version information and exit. 62 63@item [@var{textdomain}] @var{msgid} 64Retrieve translated message corresponding to @var{msgid} from @var{textdomain}. 65 66@end table 67 68If the @var{textdomain} parameter is not given, the domain is determined from 69the environment variable @code{TEXTDOMAIN}. If the message catalog is not 70found in the regular directory, another location can be specified with the 71environment variable @code{TEXTDOMAINDIR}. 72 73When used with the @code{-s} option the program behaves like the @samp{echo} 74command. But it does not simply copy its arguments to stdout. Instead those 75messages found in the selected catalog are translated. Also, a newline is 76added at the end, unless either the option @code{-n} is specified or the 77option @code{-e} is specified and some of the argument strings contains a 78@samp{\c} escape sequence. 79