1@pindex gettext 2@cindex @code{gettext} program, usage 3@example 4gettext [@var{option}] [[@var{textdomain}] @var{msgid}] 5gettext [@var{option}] -s [@var{msgid}]... 6@end example 7 8@cindex lookup message translation 9The @code{gettext} program displays the native language translation of a 10textual message. 11 12@noindent @strong{Arguments} 13 14@table @samp 15@item -d @var{textdomain} 16@itemx --domain=@var{textdomain} 17@opindex -d@r{, @code{gettext} option} 18@opindex --domain@r{, @code{gettext} option} 19Retrieve translated messages from @var{textdomain}. Usually a @var{textdomain} 20corresponds to a package, a program, or a module of a program. 21 22@item -e 23@opindex -e@r{, @code{gettext} option} 24Enable expansion of some escape sequences. This option is for compatibility 25with the @samp{echo} program or shell built-in. The escape sequences 26@samp{\a}, @samp{\b}, @samp{\c}, @samp{\f}, @samp{\n}, @samp{\r}, @samp{\t}, 27@samp{\v}, @samp{\\}, and @samp{\} followed by one to three octal digits, are 28interpreted like the System V @samp{echo} program did. 29 30@item -E 31@opindex -E@r{, @code{gettext} option} 32This option is only for compatibility with the @samp{echo} program or shell 33built-in. It has no effect. 34 35@item -h 36@itemx --help 37@opindex -h@r{, @code{gettext} option} 38@opindex --help@r{, @code{gettext} option} 39Display this help and exit. 40 41@item -n 42@opindex -n@r{, @code{gettext} option} 43Suppress trailing newline. By default, @code{gettext} adds a newline to 44the output. 45 46@item -V 47@itemx --version 48@opindex -V@r{, @code{gettext} option} 49@opindex --version@r{, @code{gettext} option} 50Output version information and exit. 51 52@item [@var{textdomain}] @var{msgid} 53Retrieve translated message corresponding to @var{msgid} from @var{textdomain}. 54 55@end table 56 57If the @var{textdomain} parameter is not given, the domain is determined from 58the environment variable @code{TEXTDOMAIN}. If the message catalog is not 59found in the regular directory, another location can be specified with the 60environment variable @code{TEXTDOMAINDIR}. 61 62When used with the @code{-s} option the program behaves like the @samp{echo} 63command. But it does not simply copy its arguments to stdout. Instead those 64messages found in the selected catalog are translated. 65