DOKK / manpages / debian 12 / gettext / msgmerge.1.en
MSGMERGE(1) User Commands MSGMERGE(1)

msgmerge - merge message catalog and template

msgmerge [OPTION] def.po ref.pot

Merges two Uniforum style .po files together. The def.po file is an existing PO file with translations which will be taken over to the newly created file as long as they still match; comments will be preserved, but extracted comments and file positions will be discarded. The ref.pot file is the last created PO file with up-to-date source references but old translations, or a PO Template file (generally created by xgettext); any translations or comments in the file will be discarded, however dot comments and file positions will be preserved. Where an exact match cannot be found, fuzzy matching is used to produce better results.

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

translations referring to old sources
references to new sources
add DIRECTORY to list for input files search
additional library of message translations, may be specified more than once

update def.po, do nothing if def.po already up to date

write output to specified file

The results are written to standard output if no output file is specified or if it is -.

Output file location in update mode: The result is written back to def.po.

make a backup of def.po
override the usual backup suffix

The version control method may be selected via the --backup option or through the VERSION_CONTROL environment variable. Here are the values:

never make backups (even if --backup is given)
make numbered backups
numbered if numbered backups exist, simple otherwise
always make simple backups

The backup suffix is '~', unless set with --suffix or the SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX environment variable.

apply ref.pot to each of the domains in def.po
produce output for 'msgfmt', not for a translator
do not use fuzzy matching
keep previous msgids of translated messages

input files are in Java .properties syntax
input files are in NeXTstep/GNUstep .strings syntax

set 'Language' field in the header entry
use colors and other text attributes always
use colors and other text attributes if WHEN. WHEN may be 'always', 'never', 'auto', or 'html'.
specify CSS style rule file for --color
do not use C escapes in output (default)
use C escapes in output, no extended chars
write PO file even if empty
indented output style
suppress '#: filename:line' lines
preserve '#: filename:line' lines (default)
strict Uniforum output style
write out a Java .properties file
write out a NeXTstep/GNUstep .strings file
set output page width
do not break long message lines, longer than the output page width, into several lines
generate sorted output
sort output by file location

display this help and exit
output version information and exit
increase verbosity level
suppress progress indicators

Written by Peter Miller.

Report bugs in the bug tracker at <https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/gettext> or by email to <bug-gettext@gnu.org>.

Copyright © 1995-2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://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.

The full documentation for msgmerge is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and msgmerge programs are properly installed at your site, the command

info msgmerge

should give you access to the complete manual.

February 2023 GNU gettext-tools 0.21