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(gettext.info)xgettext Invocation

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Invoking the `xgettext' Program
===============================

     xgettext [OPTION] INPUTFILE ...

`-a'
`--extract-all'
     Extract all strings.

`-c [TAG]'
`--add-comments[=TAG]'
     Place comment block with TAG (or those preceding keyword lines) in
     output file.

`-C'
`--c++'
     Recognize C++ style comments.

`--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 format 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.

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

     The special domain name `-' or `/dev/stdout' means to write the
     output to `stdout'.

`-D DIRECTORY'
`--directory=DIRECTORY'
     Change to DIRECTORY before beginning to search and scan source
     files.  The resulting `.po' file will be written relative to the
     original directory, though.

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

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

`-h'
`--help'
     Display this help and exit.

`-I LIST'
`--input-path=LIST'
     List of directories searched for input files.

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

`-k WORD'
`--keyword[=KEYWORDSPEC]'
     Additional keyword to be looked for (without KEYWORDSPEC means not
     to use default keywords).

     If KEYWORDSPEC is a C identifer 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.

     The default keyword specifications, which are always looked for if
     not explicitly disabled, are `gettext', `dgettext:2',
     `dcgettext:2', `ngettext:1,2', `dngettext:2,3', `dcngettext:2,3',
     and `gettext_noop'.

`-m [STRING]'
`--msgstr-prefix[=STRING]'
     Use STRING or "" as prefix for msgstr entries.

`-M [STRING]'
`--msgstr-suffix[=STRING]'
     Use STRING or "" as suffix for msgstr entries.

`--no-location'
     Do not write `#: FILENAME:LINE' lines.

`-n'
`--add-location'
     Generate `#: FILENAME:LINE' lines (default).

`--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.  We can ship some of these
     files in the GNU `gettext' package, and the result of regenerating
     them through `msgfmt' should yield the same values.

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

`-s'
`--sort-output'
     Generate sorted output and remove duplicates.

`--strict'
     Write out a strict Uniforum conforming PO file.

`-v'
`--version'
     Output version information and exit.

`-x FILE'
`--exclude-file=FILE'
     Entries from FILE are not extracted.

   Search path for supplementary PO files is:
`/usr/local/share/nls/src/'.

   If INPUTFILE is `-', standard input is read.

   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.