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14 <H1><A NAME="SEC178" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC178">11 The Programmer's View</A></H1>
17 One aim of the current message catalog implementation provided by
18 GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> was to use the system's message catalog handling, if the
19 installer wishes to do so. So we perhaps should first take a look at
20 the solutions we know about. The people in the POSIX committee did not
21 manage to agree on one of the semi-official standards which we'll
22 describe below. In fact they couldn't agree on anything, so they decided
23 only to include an example of an interface. The major Unix vendors
24 are split in the usage of the two most important specifications: X/Open's
25 catgets vs. Uniforum's gettext interface. We'll describe them both and
26 later explain our solution of this dilemma.
32 <H2><A NAME="SEC179" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC179">11.1 About <CODE>catgets</CODE></A></H2>
34 <A NAME="IDX1062"></A>
38 The <CODE>catgets</CODE> implementation is defined in the X/Open Portability
39 Guide, Volume 3, XSI Supplementary Definitions, Chapter 5. But the
40 process of creating this standard seemed to be too slow for some of
41 the Unix vendors so they created their implementations on preliminary
42 versions of the standard. Of course this leads again to problems while
43 writing platform independent programs: even the usage of <CODE>catgets</CODE>
44 does not guarantee a unique interface.
48 Another, personal comment on this that only a bunch of committee members
49 could have made this interface. They never really tried to program
50 using this interface. It is a fast, memory-saving implementation, an
51 user can happily live with it. But programmers hate it (at least I and
56 But we must not forget one point: after all the trouble with transferring
57 the rights on Unix(tm) they at last came to X/Open, the very same who
58 published this specification. This leads me to making the prediction
59 that this interface will be in future Unix standards (e.g. Spec1170) and
60 therefore part of all Unix implementation (implementations, which are
61 <EM>allowed</EM> to wear this name).
67 <H3><A NAME="SEC180" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC180">11.1.1 The Interface</A></H3>
69 <A NAME="IDX1063"></A>
73 The interface to the <CODE>catgets</CODE> implementation consists of three
74 functions which correspond to those used in file access: <CODE>catopen</CODE>
75 to open the catalog for using, <CODE>catgets</CODE> for accessing the message
76 tables, and <CODE>catclose</CODE> for closing after work is done. Prototypes
77 for the functions and the needed definitions are in the
78 <CODE><nl_types.h></CODE> header file.
82 <A NAME="IDX1064"></A>
83 <CODE>catopen</CODE> is used like in this:
88 nl_catd catd = catopen ("catalog_name", 0);
92 The function takes as the argument the name of the catalog. This usual
93 refers to the name of the program or the package. The second parameter
94 is not further specified in the standard. I don't even know whether it
95 is implemented consistently among various systems. So the common advice
96 is to use <CODE>0</CODE> as the value. The return value is a handle to the
97 message catalog, equivalent to handles to file returned by <CODE>open</CODE>.
101 <A NAME="IDX1065"></A>
102 This handle is of course used in the <CODE>catgets</CODE> function which can
108 char *translation = catgets (catd, set_no, msg_id, "original string");
112 The first parameter is this catalog descriptor. The second parameter
113 specifies the set of messages in this catalog, in which the message
114 described by <CODE>msg_id</CODE> is obtained. <CODE>catgets</CODE> therefore uses a
115 three-stage addressing:
120 catalog name => set number => message ID => translation
124 The fourth argument is not used to address the translation. It is given
125 as a default value in case when one of the addressing stages fail. One
126 important thing to remember is that although the return type of catgets
127 is <CODE>char *</CODE> the resulting string <EM>must not</EM> be changed. It
128 should better be <CODE>const char *</CODE>, but the standard is published in
129 1988, one year before ANSI C.
133 <A NAME="IDX1066"></A>
134 The last of these functions is used and behaves as expected:
143 After this no <CODE>catgets</CODE> call using the descriptor is legal anymore.
148 <H3><A NAME="SEC181" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC181">11.1.2 Problems with the <CODE>catgets</CODE> Interface?!</A></H3>
150 <A NAME="IDX1067"></A>
154 Now that this description seemed to be really easy -- where are the
155 problems we speak of? In fact the interface could be used in a
156 reasonable way, but constructing the message catalogs is a pain. The
157 reason for this lies in the third argument of <CODE>catgets</CODE>: the unique
158 message ID. This has to be a numeric value for all messages in a single
159 set. Perhaps you could imagine the problems keeping such a list while
160 changing the source code. Add a new message here, remove one there. Of
161 course there have been developed a lot of tools helping to organize this
162 chaos but one as the other fails in one aspect or the other. We don't
163 want to say that the other approach has no problems but they are far
169 <H2><A NAME="SEC182" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC182">11.2 About <CODE>gettext</CODE></A></H2>
171 <A NAME="IDX1068"></A>
175 The definition of the <CODE>gettext</CODE> interface comes from a Uniforum
176 proposal. It was submitted there by Sun, who had implemented the
177 <CODE>gettext</CODE> function in SunOS 4, around 1990. Nowadays, the
178 <CODE>gettext</CODE> interface is specified by the OpenI18N standard.
182 The main point about this solution is that it does not follow the
183 method of normal file handling (open-use-close) and that it does not
184 burden the programmer with so many tasks, especially the unique key handling.
185 Of course here also a unique key is needed, but this key is the message
186 itself (how long or short it is). See section <A HREF="gettext_11.html#SEC190">11.3 Comparing the Two Interfaces</A> for a more
187 detailed comparison of the two methods.
191 The following section contains a rather detailed description of the
192 interface. We make it that detailed because this is the interface
193 we chose for the GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> Library. Programmers interested
194 in using this library will be interested in this description.
200 <H3><A NAME="SEC183" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC183">11.2.1 The Interface</A></H3>
202 <A NAME="IDX1069"></A>
206 The minimal functionality an interface must have is a) to select a
207 domain the strings are coming from (a single domain for all programs is
208 not reasonable because its construction and maintenance is difficult,
209 perhaps impossible) and b) to access a string in a selected domain.
213 This is principally the description of the <CODE>gettext</CODE> interface. It
214 has a global domain which unqualified usages reference. Of course this
215 domain is selectable by the user.
220 char *textdomain (const char *domain_name);
224 This provides the possibility to change or query the current status of
225 the current global domain of the <CODE>LC_MESSAGE</CODE> category. The
226 argument is a null-terminated string, whose characters must be legal in
227 the use in filenames. If the <VAR>domain_name</VAR> argument is <CODE>NULL</CODE>,
228 the function returns the current value. If no value has been set
229 before, the name of the default domain is returned: <EM>messages</EM>.
230 Please note that although the return value of <CODE>textdomain</CODE> is of
231 type <CODE>char *</CODE> no changing is allowed. It is also important to know
232 that no checks of the availability are made. If the name is not
233 available you will see this by the fact that no translations are provided.
237 To use a domain set by <CODE>textdomain</CODE> the function
242 char *gettext (const char *msgid);
246 is to be used. This is the simplest reasonable form one can imagine.
247 The translation of the string <VAR>msgid</VAR> is returned if it is available
248 in the current domain. If it is not available, the argument itself is
249 returned. If the argument is <CODE>NULL</CODE> the result is undefined.
253 One thing which should come into mind is that no explicit dependency to
254 the used domain is given. The current value of the domain is used.
255 If this changes between two
256 executions of the same <CODE>gettext</CODE> call in the program, both calls
257 reference a different message catalog.
261 For the easiest case, which is normally used in internationalized
262 packages, once at the beginning of execution a call to <CODE>textdomain</CODE>
263 is issued, setting the domain to a unique name, normally the package
264 name. In the following code all strings which have to be translated are
265 filtered through the gettext function. That's all, the package speaks
271 <H3><A NAME="SEC184" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC184">11.2.2 Solving Ambiguities</A></H3>
273 <A NAME="IDX1070"></A>
274 <A NAME="IDX1071"></A>
275 <A NAME="IDX1072"></A>
279 While this single name domain works well for most applications there
280 might be the need to get translations from more than one domain. Of
281 course one could switch between different domains with calls to
282 <CODE>textdomain</CODE>, but this is really not convenient nor is it fast. A
283 possible situation could be one case subject to discussion during this
285 error messages of functions in the set of common used functions should
286 go into a separate domain <CODE>error</CODE>. By this mean we would only need
287 to translate them once.
288 Another case are messages from a library, as these <EM>have</EM> to be
289 independent of the current domain set by the application.
293 For this reasons there are two more functions to retrieve strings:
298 char *dgettext (const char *domain_name, const char *msgid);
299 char *dcgettext (const char *domain_name, const char *msgid,
304 Both take an additional argument at the first place, which corresponds
305 to the argument of <CODE>textdomain</CODE>. The third argument of
306 <CODE>dcgettext</CODE> allows to use another locale category but <CODE>LC_MESSAGES</CODE>.
307 But I really don't know where this can be useful. If the
308 <VAR>domain_name</VAR> is <CODE>NULL</CODE> or <VAR>category</VAR> has an value beside
309 the known ones, the result is undefined. It should also be noted that
310 this function is not part of the second known implementation of this
311 function family, the one found in Solaris.
315 A second ambiguity can arise by the fact, that perhaps more than one
316 domain has the same name. This can be solved by specifying where the
317 needed message catalog files can be found.
322 char *bindtextdomain (const char *domain_name,
323 const char *dir_name);
327 Calling this function binds the given domain to a file in the specified
328 directory (how this file is determined follows below). Especially a
329 file in the systems default place is not favored against the specified
330 file anymore (as it would be by solely using <CODE>textdomain</CODE>). A
331 <CODE>NULL</CODE> pointer for the <VAR>dir_name</VAR> parameter returns the binding
332 associated with <VAR>domain_name</VAR>. If <VAR>domain_name</VAR> itself is
333 <CODE>NULL</CODE> nothing happens and a <CODE>NULL</CODE> pointer is returned. Here
334 again as for all the other functions is true that none of the return
335 value must be changed!
339 It is important to remember that relative path names for the
340 <VAR>dir_name</VAR> parameter can be trouble. Since the path is always
341 computed relative to the current directory different results will be
342 achieved when the program executes a <CODE>chdir</CODE> command. Relative
343 paths should always be avoided to avoid dependencies and
349 <H3><A NAME="SEC185" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC185">11.2.3 Locating Message Catalog Files</A></H3>
351 <A NAME="IDX1073"></A>
355 Because many different languages for many different packages have to be
356 stored we need some way to add these information to file message catalog
357 files. The way usually used in Unix environments is have this encoding
358 in the file name. This is also done here. The directory name given in
359 <CODE>bindtextdomain</CODE>s second argument (or the default directory),
360 followed by the name of the locale, the locale category, and the domain name
366 <VAR>dir_name</VAR>/<VAR>locale</VAR>/LC_<VAR>category</VAR>/<VAR>domain_name</VAR>.mo
370 The default value for <VAR>dir_name</VAR> is system specific. For the GNU
371 library, and for packages adhering to its conventions, it's:
374 /usr/local/share/locale
378 <VAR>locale</VAR> is the name of the locale category which is designated by
379 <CODE>LC_<VAR>category</VAR></CODE>. For <CODE>gettext</CODE> and <CODE>dgettext</CODE> this
380 <CODE>LC_<VAR>category</VAR></CODE> is always <CODE>LC_MESSAGES</CODE>.<A NAME="DOCF3" HREF="gettext_foot.html#FOOT3">(3)</A>
381 The name of the locale category is determined through
382 <CODE>setlocale (LC_<VAR>category</VAR>, NULL)</CODE>.
383 <A NAME="DOCF4" HREF="gettext_foot.html#FOOT4">(4)</A>
384 When using the function <CODE>dcgettext</CODE>, you can specify the locale category
385 through the third argument.
390 <H3><A NAME="SEC186" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC186">11.2.4 How to specify the output character set <CODE>gettext</CODE> uses</A></H3>
392 <A NAME="IDX1074"></A>
393 <A NAME="IDX1075"></A>
397 <CODE>gettext</CODE> not only looks up a translation in a message catalog. It
398 also converts the translation on the fly to the desired output character
399 set. This is useful if the user is working in a different character set
400 than the translator who created the message catalog, because it avoids
401 distributing variants of message catalogs which differ only in the
406 The output character set is, by default, the value of <CODE>nl_langinfo
407 (CODESET)</CODE>, which depends on the <CODE>LC_CTYPE</CODE> part of the current
408 locale. But programs which store strings in a locale independent way
409 (e.g. UTF-8) can request that <CODE>gettext</CODE> and related functions
410 return the translations in that encoding, by use of the
411 <CODE>bind_textdomain_codeset</CODE> function.
415 Note that the <VAR>msgid</VAR> argument to <CODE>gettext</CODE> is not subject to
416 character set conversion. Also, when <CODE>gettext</CODE> does not find a
417 translation for <VAR>msgid</VAR>, it returns <VAR>msgid</VAR> unchanged --
418 independently of the current output character set. It is therefore
419 recommended that all <VAR>msgid</VAR>s be US-ASCII strings.
424 <DT><U>Function:</U> char * <B>bind_textdomain_codeset</B> <I>(const char *<VAR>domainname</VAR>, const char *<VAR>codeset</VAR>)</I>
425 <DD><A NAME="IDX1076"></A>
426 The <CODE>bind_textdomain_codeset</CODE> function can be used to specify the
427 output character set for message catalogs for domain <VAR>domainname</VAR>.
428 The <VAR>codeset</VAR> argument must be a valid codeset name which can be used
429 for the <CODE>iconv_open</CODE> function, or a null pointer.
433 If the <VAR>codeset</VAR> parameter is the null pointer,
434 <CODE>bind_textdomain_codeset</CODE> returns the currently selected codeset
435 for the domain with the name <VAR>domainname</VAR>. It returns <CODE>NULL</CODE> if
436 no codeset has yet been selected.
440 The <CODE>bind_textdomain_codeset</CODE> function can be used several times.
441 If used multiple times with the same <VAR>domainname</VAR> argument, the
442 later call overrides the settings made by the earlier one.
446 The <CODE>bind_textdomain_codeset</CODE> function returns a pointer to a
447 string containing the name of the selected codeset. The string is
448 allocated internally in the function and must not be changed by the
449 user. If the system went out of core during the execution of
450 <CODE>bind_textdomain_codeset</CODE>, the return value is <CODE>NULL</CODE> and the
451 global variable <VAR>errno</VAR> is set accordingly.
457 <H3><A NAME="SEC187" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC187">11.2.5 Using contexts for solving ambiguities</A></H3>
459 <A NAME="IDX1077"></A>
460 <A NAME="IDX1078"></A>
461 <A NAME="IDX1079"></A>
462 <A NAME="IDX1080"></A>
466 One place where the <CODE>gettext</CODE> functions, if used normally, have big
467 problems is within programs with graphical user interfaces (GUIs). The
468 problem is that many of the strings which have to be translated are very
469 short. They have to appear in pull-down menus which restricts the
470 length. But strings which are not containing entire sentences or at
471 least large fragments of a sentence may appear in more than one
472 situation in the program but might have different translations. This is
473 especially true for the one-word strings which are frequently used in
478 As a consequence many people say that the <CODE>gettext</CODE> approach is
479 wrong and instead <CODE>catgets</CODE> should be used which indeed does not
480 have this problem. But there is a very simple and powerful method to
481 handle this kind of problems with the <CODE>gettext</CODE> functions.
485 Contexts can be added to strings to be translated. A context dependent
486 translation lookup is when a translation for a given string is searched,
487 that is limited to a given context. The translation for the same string
488 in a different context can be different. The different translations of
489 the same string in different contexts can be stored in the in the same
490 MO file, and can be edited by the translator in the same PO file.
494 The <TT>‘gettext.h’</TT> include file contains the lookup macros for strings
495 with contexts. They are implemented as thin macros and inline functions
496 over the functions from <CODE><libintl.h></CODE>.
500 <A NAME="IDX1081"></A>
503 const char *pgettext (const char *msgctxt, const char *msgid);
507 In a call of this macro, <VAR>msgctxt</VAR> and <VAR>msgid</VAR> must be string
508 literals. The macro returns the translation of <VAR>msgid</VAR>, restricted
509 to the context given by <VAR>msgctxt</VAR>.
513 The <VAR>msgctxt</VAR> string is visible in the PO file to the translator.
514 You should try to make it somehow canonical and never changing. Because
515 every time you change an <VAR>msgctxt</VAR>, the translator will have to review
516 the translation of <VAR>msgid</VAR>.
520 Finding a canonical <VAR>msgctxt</VAR> string that doesn't change over time can
521 be hard. But you shouldn't use the file name or class name containing the
522 <CODE>pgettext</CODE> call -- because it is a common development task to rename
523 a file or a class, and it shouldn't cause translator work. Also you shouldn't
524 use a comment in the form of a complete English sentence as <VAR>msgctxt</VAR> --
525 because orthography or grammar changes are often applied to such sentences,
526 and again, it shouldn't force the translator to do a review.
530 The <SAMP>‘p’</SAMP> in <SAMP>‘pgettext’</SAMP> stands for “particular”: <CODE>pgettext</CODE>
531 fetches a particular translation of the <VAR>msgid</VAR>.
535 <A NAME="IDX1082"></A>
536 <A NAME="IDX1083"></A>
539 const char *dpgettext (const char *domain_name,
540 const char *msgctxt, const char *msgid);
541 const char *dcpgettext (const char *domain_name,
542 const char *msgctxt, const char *msgid,
547 These are generalizations of <CODE>pgettext</CODE>. They behave similarly to
548 <CODE>dgettext</CODE> and <CODE>dcgettext</CODE>, respectively. The <VAR>domain_name</VAR>
549 argument defines the translation domain. The <VAR>category</VAR> argument
550 allows to use another locale category than <CODE>LC_MESSAGES</CODE>.
554 As as example consider the following fictional situation. A GUI program
555 has a menu bar with the following entries:
560 +------------+------------+--------------------------------------+
562 +------------+------------+--------------------------------------+
565 +----------+ | Connect |
570 To have the strings <CODE>File</CODE>, <CODE>Printer</CODE>, <CODE>Open</CODE>,
571 <CODE>New</CODE>, <CODE>Select</CODE>, and <CODE>Connect</CODE> translated there has to be
572 at some point in the code a call to a function of the <CODE>gettext</CODE>
573 family. But in two places the string passed into the function would be
574 <CODE>Open</CODE>. The translations might not be the same and therefore we
575 are in the dilemma described above.
579 What distinguishes the two places is the menu path from the menu root to
580 the particular menu entries:
595 The context is thus the menu path without its last part. So, the calls
601 pgettext ("Menu|", "File")
602 pgettext ("Menu|", "Printer")
603 pgettext ("Menu|File|", "Open")
604 pgettext ("Menu|File|", "New")
605 pgettext ("Menu|Printer|", "Select")
606 pgettext ("Menu|Printer|", "Open")
607 pgettext ("Menu|Printer|", "Connect")
611 Whether or not to use the <SAMP>‘|’</SAMP> character at the end of the context is a
616 For more complex cases, where the <VAR>msgctxt</VAR> or <VAR>msgid</VAR> are not
617 string literals, more general macros are available:
621 <A NAME="IDX1084"></A>
622 <A NAME="IDX1085"></A>
623 <A NAME="IDX1086"></A>
626 const char *pgettext_expr (const char *msgctxt, const char *msgid);
627 const char *dpgettext_expr (const char *domain_name,
628 const char *msgctxt, const char *msgid);
629 const char *dcpgettext_expr (const char *domain_name,
630 const char *msgctxt, const char *msgid,
635 Here <VAR>msgctxt</VAR> and <VAR>msgid</VAR> can be arbitrary string-valued expressions.
636 These macros are more general. But in the case that both argument expressions
637 are string literals, the macros without the <SAMP>‘_expr’</SAMP> suffix are more
643 <H3><A NAME="SEC188" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC188">11.2.6 Additional functions for plural forms</A></H3>
645 <A NAME="IDX1087"></A>
649 The functions of the <CODE>gettext</CODE> family described so far (and all the
650 <CODE>catgets</CODE> functions as well) have one problem in the real world
651 which have been neglected completely in all existing approaches. What
652 is meant here is the handling of plural forms.
656 Looking through Unix source code before the time anybody thought about
657 internationalization (and, sadly, even afterwards) one can often find
658 code similar to the following:
663 printf ("%d file%s deleted", n, n == 1 ? "" : "s");
667 After the first complaints from people internationalizing the code people
668 either completely avoided formulations like this or used strings like
669 <CODE>"file(s)"</CODE>. Both look unnatural and should be avoided. First
670 tries to solve the problem correctly looked like this:
676 printf ("%d file deleted", n);
678 printf ("%d files deleted", n);
682 But this does not solve the problem. It helps languages where the
683 plural form of a noun is not simply constructed by adding an
685 but that is all. Once again people fell into the trap of believing the
686 rules their language is using are universal. But the handling of plural
687 forms differs widely between the language families. For example,
688 Rafal Maszkowski <CODE><rzm@mat.uni.torun.pl></CODE> reports:
694 In Polish we use e.g. plik (file) this way:
705 and so on (o' means 8859-2 oacute which should be rather okreska,
710 There are two things which can differ between languages (and even inside
718 The form how plural forms are built differs. This is a problem with
719 languages which have many irregularities. German, for instance, is a
720 drastic case. Though English and German are part of the same language
721 family (Germanic), the almost regular forming of plural noun forms
724 is hardly found in German.
728 The number of plural forms differ. This is somewhat surprising for
729 those who only have experiences with Romanic and Germanic languages
730 since here the number is the same (there are two).
732 But other language families have only one form or many forms. More
733 information on this in an extra section.
737 The consequence of this is that application writers should not try to
738 solve the problem in their code. This would be localization since it is
739 only usable for certain, hardcoded language environments. Instead the
740 extended <CODE>gettext</CODE> interface should be used.
744 These extra functions are taking instead of the one key string two
745 strings and a numerical argument. The idea behind this is that using
746 the numerical argument and the first string as a key, the implementation
747 can select using rules specified by the translator the right plural
748 form. The two string arguments then will be used to provide a return
749 value in case no message catalog is found (similar to the normal
750 <CODE>gettext</CODE> behavior). In this case the rules for Germanic language
751 is used and it is assumed that the first string argument is the singular
752 form, the second the plural form.
756 This has the consequence that programs without language catalogs can
757 display the correct strings only if the program itself is written using
758 a Germanic language. This is a limitation but since the GNU C library
759 (as well as the GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> package) are written as part of the
760 GNU package and the coding standards for the GNU project require program
761 being written in English, this solution nevertheless fulfills its
767 <DT><U>Function:</U> char * <B>ngettext</B> <I>(const char *<VAR>msgid1</VAR>, const char *<VAR>msgid2</VAR>, unsigned long int <VAR>n</VAR>)</I>
768 <DD><A NAME="IDX1088"></A>
769 The <CODE>ngettext</CODE> function is similar to the <CODE>gettext</CODE> function
770 as it finds the message catalogs in the same way. But it takes two
771 extra arguments. The <VAR>msgid1</VAR> parameter must contain the singular
772 form of the string to be converted. It is also used as the key for the
773 search in the catalog. The <VAR>msgid2</VAR> parameter is the plural form.
774 The parameter <VAR>n</VAR> is used to determine the plural form. If no
775 message catalog is found <VAR>msgid1</VAR> is returned if <CODE>n == 1</CODE>,
776 otherwise <CODE>msgid2</CODE>.
780 An example for the use of this function is:
785 printf (ngettext ("%d file removed", "%d files removed", n), n);
789 Please note that the numeric value <VAR>n</VAR> has to be passed to the
790 <CODE>printf</CODE> function as well. It is not sufficient to pass it only to
791 <CODE>ngettext</CODE>.
795 In the English singular case, the number -- always 1 -- can be replaced with
801 printf (ngettext ("One file removed", "%d files removed", n), n);
805 This works because the <SAMP>‘printf’</SAMP> function discards excess arguments that
806 are not consumed by the format string.
810 If this function is meant to yield a format string that takes two or more
811 arguments, you can not use it like this:
816 printf (ngettext ("%d file removed from directory %s",
817 "%d files removed from directory %s",
823 because in many languages the translators want to replace the <SAMP>‘%d’</SAMP>
824 with an explicit word in the singular case, just like “one” in English,
825 and C format strings cannot consume the second argument but skip the first
826 argument. Instead, you have to reorder the arguments so that <SAMP>‘n’</SAMP>
832 printf (ngettext ("%$2d file removed from directory %$1s",
833 "%$2d files removed from directory %$1s",
839 See section <A HREF="gettext_15.html#SEC249">15.3.1 C Format Strings</A> for details about this argument reordering syntax.
843 When you know that the value of <CODE>n</CODE> is within a given range, you can
844 specify it as a comment directed to the <CODE>xgettext</CODE> tool. This
845 information may help translators to use more adequate translations. Like
851 if (days > 7 && days < 14)
852 /* xgettext: range: 1..6 */
853 printf (ngettext ("one week and one day", "one week and %d days",
859 It is also possible to use this function when the strings don't contain a
865 puts (ngettext ("Delete the selected file?",
866 "Delete the selected files?",
871 In this case the number <VAR>n</VAR> is only used to choose the plural form.
877 <DT><U>Function:</U> char * <B>dngettext</B> <I>(const char *<VAR>domain</VAR>, const char *<VAR>msgid1</VAR>, const char *<VAR>msgid2</VAR>, unsigned long int <VAR>n</VAR>)</I>
878 <DD><A NAME="IDX1089"></A>
879 The <CODE>dngettext</CODE> is similar to the <CODE>dgettext</CODE> function in the
880 way the message catalog is selected. The difference is that it takes
881 two extra parameter to provide the correct plural form. These two
882 parameters are handled in the same way <CODE>ngettext</CODE> handles them.
888 <DT><U>Function:</U> char * <B>dcngettext</B> <I>(const char *<VAR>domain</VAR>, const char *<VAR>msgid1</VAR>, const char *<VAR>msgid2</VAR>, unsigned long int <VAR>n</VAR>, int <VAR>category</VAR>)</I>
889 <DD><A NAME="IDX1090"></A>
890 The <CODE>dcngettext</CODE> is similar to the <CODE>dcgettext</CODE> function in the
891 way the message catalog is selected. The difference is that it takes
892 two extra parameter to provide the correct plural form. These two
893 parameters are handled in the same way <CODE>ngettext</CODE> handles them.
898 Now, how do these functions solve the problem of the plural forms?
899 Without the input of linguists (which was not available) it was not
900 possible to determine whether there are only a few different forms in
901 which plural forms are formed or whether the number can increase with
902 every new supported language.
906 Therefore the solution implemented is to allow the translator to specify
907 the rules of how to select the plural form. Since the formula varies
908 with every language this is the only viable solution except for
909 hardcoding the information in the code (which still would require the
910 possibility of extensions to not prevent the use of new languages).
914 <A NAME="IDX1091"></A>
915 <A NAME="IDX1092"></A>
916 <A NAME="IDX1093"></A>
917 The information about the plural form selection has to be stored in the
918 header entry of the PO file (the one with the empty <CODE>msgid</CODE> string).
919 The plural form information looks like this:
924 Plural-Forms: nplurals=2; plural=n == 1 ? 0 : 1;
928 The <CODE>nplurals</CODE> value must be a decimal number which specifies how
929 many different plural forms exist for this language. The string
930 following <CODE>plural</CODE> is an expression which is using the C language
931 syntax. Exceptions are that no negative numbers are allowed, numbers
932 must be decimal, and the only variable allowed is <CODE>n</CODE>. Spaces are
933 allowed in the expression, but backslash-newlines are not; in the
934 examples below the backslash-newlines are present for formatting purposes
935 only. This expression will be evaluated whenever one of the functions
936 <CODE>ngettext</CODE>, <CODE>dngettext</CODE>, or <CODE>dcngettext</CODE> is called. The
937 numeric value passed to these functions is then substituted for all uses
938 of the variable <CODE>n</CODE> in the expression. The resulting value then
939 must be greater or equal to zero and smaller than the value given as the
940 value of <CODE>nplurals</CODE>.
944 <A NAME="IDX1094"></A>
945 The following rules are known at this point. The language with families
946 are listed. But this does not necessarily mean the information can be
947 generalized for the whole family (as can be easily seen in the table
948 below).<A NAME="DOCF5" HREF="gettext_foot.html#FOOT5">(5)</A>
955 Some languages only require one single form. There is no distinction
956 between the singular and plural form. An appropriate header entry
957 would look like this:
961 Plural-Forms: nplurals=1; plural=0;
964 Languages with this property include:
975 <DT>Two forms, singular used for one only
977 This is the form used in most existing programs since it is what English
978 is using. A header entry would look like this:
982 Plural-Forms: nplurals=2; plural=n != 1;
985 (Note: this uses the feature of C expressions that boolean expressions
986 have to value zero or one.)
988 Languages with this property include:
1007 <DT>Latin/Greek family
1010 <DT>Finno-Ugric family
1022 Other languages using the same header entry are:
1026 <DT>Finno-Ugric family
1029 <DT>Turkic/Altaic family
1034 Hungarian does not appear to have a plural if you look at sentences involving
1035 cardinal numbers. For example, “1 apple” is “1 alma”, and “123 apples” is
1036 “123 alma”. But when the number is not explicit, the distinction between
1037 singular and plural exists: “the apple” is “az alma”, and “the apples” is
1038 “az alm'{a}k”. Since <CODE>ngettext</CODE> has to support both types of sentences,
1039 it is classified here, under “two forms”.
1041 The same holds for Turkish: “1 apple” is “1 elma”, and “123 apples” is
1042 “123 elma”. But when the number is omitted, the distinction between singular
1043 and plural exists: “the apple” is “elma”, and “the apples” is
1046 <DT>Two forms, singular used for zero and one
1048 Exceptional case in the language family. The header entry would be:
1052 Plural-Forms: nplurals=2; plural=n>1;
1055 Languages with this property include:
1061 Brazilian Portuguese,
1065 <DT>Three forms, special case for zero
1067 The header entry would be:
1071 Plural-Forms: nplurals=3; plural=n%10==1 && n%100!=11 ? 0 : n != 0 ? 1 : 2;
1074 Languages with this property include:
1083 <DT>Three forms, special cases for one and two
1085 The header entry would be:
1089 Plural-Forms: nplurals=3; plural=n==1 ? 0 : n==2 ? 1 : 2;
1092 Languages with this property include:
1101 <DT>Three forms, special case for numbers ending in 00 or [2-9][0-9]
1103 The header entry would be:
1107 Plural-Forms: nplurals=3; \
1108 plural=n==1 ? 0 : (n==0 || (n%100 > 0 && n%100 < 20)) ? 1 : 2;
1111 Languages with this property include:
1120 <DT>Three forms, special case for numbers ending in 1[2-9]
1122 The header entry would look like this:
1126 Plural-Forms: nplurals=3; \
1127 plural=n%10==1 && n%100!=11 ? 0 : \
1128 n%10>=2 && (n%100<10 || n%100>=20) ? 1 : 2;
1131 Languages with this property include:
1140 <DT>Three forms, special cases for numbers ending in 1 and 2, 3, 4, except those ending in 1[1-4]
1142 The header entry would look like this:
1146 Plural-Forms: nplurals=3; \
1147 plural=n%10==1 && n%100!=11 ? 0 : \
1148 n%10>=2 && n%10<=4 && (n%100<10 || n%100>=20) ? 1 : 2;
1151 Languages with this property include:
1163 <DT>Three forms, special cases for 1 and 2, 3, 4
1165 The header entry would look like this:
1169 Plural-Forms: nplurals=3; \
1170 plural=(n==1) ? 0 : (n>=2 && n<=4) ? 1 : 2;
1173 Languages with this property include:
1183 <DT>Three forms, special case for one and some numbers ending in 2, 3, or 4
1185 The header entry would look like this:
1189 Plural-Forms: nplurals=3; \
1191 n%10>=2 && n%10<=4 && (n%100<10 || n%100>=20) ? 1 : 2;
1194 Languages with this property include:
1203 <DT>Four forms, special case for one and all numbers ending in 02, 03, or 04
1205 The header entry would look like this:
1209 Plural-Forms: nplurals=4; \
1210 plural=n%100==1 ? 0 : n%100==2 ? 1 : n%100==3 || n%100==4 ? 2 : 3;
1213 Languages with this property include:
1224 You might now ask, <CODE>ngettext</CODE> handles only numbers <VAR>n</VAR> of type
1225 <SAMP>‘unsigned long’</SAMP>. What about larger integer types? What about negative
1226 numbers? What about floating-point numbers?
1230 About larger integer types, such as <SAMP>‘uintmax_t’</SAMP> or
1231 <SAMP>‘unsigned long long’</SAMP>: they can be handled by reducing the value to a
1232 range that fits in an <SAMP>‘unsigned long’</SAMP>. Simply casting the value to
1233 <SAMP>‘unsigned long’</SAMP> would not do the right thing, since it would treat
1234 <CODE>ULONG_MAX + 1</CODE> like zero, <CODE>ULONG_MAX + 2</CODE> like singular, and
1235 the like. Here you can exploit the fact that all mentioned plural form
1236 formulas eventually become periodic, with a period that is a divisor of 100
1237 (or 1000 or 1000000). So, when you reduce a large value to another one in
1238 the range [1000000, 1999999] that ends in the same 6 decimal digits, you
1239 can assume that it will lead to the same plural form selection. This code
1245 #include <inttypes.h>
1246 uintmax_t nbytes = ...;
1247 printf (ngettext ("The file has %"PRIuMAX" byte.",
1248 "The file has %"PRIuMAX" bytes.",
1249 (nbytes > ULONG_MAX
1250 ? (nbytes % 1000000) + 1000000
1256 Negative and floating-point values usually represent physical entities for
1257 which singular and plural don't clearly apply. In such cases, there is no
1258 need to use <CODE>ngettext</CODE>; a simple <CODE>gettext</CODE> call with a form suitable
1259 for all values will do. For example:
1264 printf (gettext ("Time elapsed: %.3f seconds"),
1265 num_milliseconds * 0.001);
1269 Even if <VAR>num_milliseconds</VAR> happens to be a multiple of 1000, the output
1272 Time elapsed: 1.000 seconds
1276 is acceptable in English, and similarly for other languages.
1280 The translators' perspective regarding plural forms is explained in
1281 section <A HREF="gettext_12.html#SEC209">12.6 Translating plural forms</A>.
1286 <H3><A NAME="SEC189" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC189">11.2.7 Optimization of the *gettext functions</A></H3>
1288 <A NAME="IDX1095"></A>
1292 At this point of the discussion we should talk about an advantage of the
1293 GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> implementation. Some readers might have pointed out
1294 that an internationalized program might have a poor performance if some
1295 string has to be translated in an inner loop. While this is unavoidable
1296 when the string varies from one run of the loop to the other it is
1297 simply a waste of time when the string is always the same. Take the
1306 puts (gettext ("Hello world"));
1312 When the locale selection does not change between two runs the resulting
1313 string is always the same. One way to use this is:
1319 str = gettext ("Hello world");
1328 But this solution is not usable in all situation (e.g. when the locale
1329 selection changes) nor does it lead to legible code.
1333 For this reason, GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> caches previous translation results.
1334 When the same translation is requested twice, with no new message
1335 catalogs being loaded in between, <CODE>gettext</CODE> will, the second time,
1336 find the result through a single cache lookup.
1341 <H2><A NAME="SEC190" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC190">11.3 Comparing the Two Interfaces</A></H2>
1343 <A NAME="IDX1096"></A>
1344 <A NAME="IDX1097"></A>
1349 The following discussion is perhaps a little bit colored. As said
1350 above we implemented GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> following the Uniforum
1351 proposal and this surely has its reasons. But it should show how we
1352 came to this decision.
1356 First we take a look at the developing process. When we write an
1357 application using NLS provided by <CODE>gettext</CODE> we proceed as always.
1358 Only when we come to a string which might be seen by the users and thus
1359 has to be translated we use <CODE>gettext("...")</CODE> instead of
1360 <CODE>"..."</CODE>. At the beginning of each source file (or in a central
1361 header file) we define
1366 #define gettext(String) (String)
1370 Even this definition can be avoided when the system supports the
1371 <CODE>gettext</CODE> function in its C library. When we compile this code the
1372 result is the same as if no NLS code is used. When you take a look at
1373 the GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> code you will see that we use <CODE>_("...")</CODE>
1374 instead of <CODE>gettext("...")</CODE>. This reduces the number of
1375 additional characters per translatable string to <EM>3</EM> (in words:
1380 When now a production version of the program is needed we simply replace
1386 #define _(String) (String)
1394 <A NAME="IDX1098"></A>
1397 #include <libintl.h>
1398 #define _(String) gettext (String)
1402 Additionally we run the program <TT>‘xgettext’</TT> on all source code file
1403 which contain translatable strings and that's it: we have a running
1404 program which does not depend on translations to be available, but which
1405 can use any that becomes available.
1409 <A NAME="IDX1099"></A>
1410 The same procedure can be done for the <CODE>gettext_noop</CODE> invocations
1411 (see section <A HREF="gettext_4.html#SEC23">4.7 Special Cases of Translatable Strings</A>). One usually defines <CODE>gettext_noop</CODE> as a
1412 no-op macro. So you should consider the following code for your project:
1417 #define gettext_noop(String) String
1418 #define N_(String) gettext_noop (String)
1422 <CODE>N_</CODE> is a short form similar to <CODE>_</CODE>. The <TT>‘Makefile’</TT> in
1423 the <TT>‘po/’</TT> directory of GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> knows by default both of the
1424 mentioned short forms so you are invited to follow this proposal for
1429 Now to <CODE>catgets</CODE>. The main problem is the work for the
1430 programmer. Every time he comes to a translatable string he has to
1431 define a number (or a symbolic constant) which has also be defined in
1432 the message catalog file. He also has to take care for duplicate
1433 entries, duplicate message IDs etc. If he wants to have the same
1434 quality in the message catalog as the GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> program
1435 provides he also has to put the descriptive comments for the strings and
1436 the location in all source code files in the message catalog. This is
1437 nearly a Mission: Impossible.
1441 But there are also some points people might call advantages speaking for
1442 <CODE>catgets</CODE>. If you have a single word in a string and this string
1443 is used in different contexts it is likely that in one or the other
1444 language the word has different translations. Example:
1449 printf ("%s: %d", gettext ("number"), number_of_errors)
1451 printf ("you should see %d %s", number_count,
1452 number_count == 1 ? gettext ("number") : gettext ("numbers"))
1456 Here we have to translate two times the string <CODE>"number"</CODE>. Even
1457 if you do not speak a language beside English it might be possible to
1458 recognize that the two words have a different meaning. In German the
1459 first appearance has to be translated to <CODE>"Anzahl"</CODE> and the second
1460 to <CODE>"Zahl"</CODE>.
1464 Now you can say that this example is really esoteric. And you are
1465 right! This is exactly how we felt about this problem and decide that
1466 it does not weight that much. The solution for the above problem could
1472 printf ("%s %d", gettext ("number:"), number_of_errors)
1474 printf (number_count == 1 ? gettext ("you should see %d number")
1475 : gettext ("you should see %d numbers"),
1480 We believe that we can solve all conflicts with this method. If it is
1481 difficult one can also consider changing one of the conflicting string a
1482 little bit. But it is not impossible to overcome.
1486 <CODE>catgets</CODE> allows same original entry to have different translations,
1487 but <CODE>gettext</CODE> has another, scalable approach for solving ambiguities
1488 of this kind: See section <A HREF="gettext_11.html#SEC184">11.2.2 Solving Ambiguities</A>.
1493 <H2><A NAME="SEC191" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC191">11.4 Using libintl.a in own programs</A></H2>
1496 Starting with version 0.9.4 the library <CODE>libintl.h</CODE> should be
1497 self-contained. I.e., you can use it in your own programs without
1498 providing additional functions. The <TT>‘Makefile’</TT> will put the header
1499 and the library in directories selected using the <CODE>$(prefix)</CODE>.
1504 <H2><A NAME="SEC192" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC192">11.5 Being a <CODE>gettext</CODE> grok</A></H2>
1507 <STRONG> NOTE: </STRONG> This documentation section is outdated and needs to be
1512 To fully exploit the functionality of the GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> library it
1513 is surely helpful to read the source code. But for those who don't want
1514 to spend that much time in reading the (sometimes complicated) code here
1520 <LI>Changing the language at runtime
1522 <A NAME="IDX1100"></A>
1524 For interactive programs it might be useful to offer a selection of the
1525 used language at runtime. To understand how to do this one need to know
1526 how the used language is determined while executing the <CODE>gettext</CODE>
1527 function. The method which is presented here only works correctly
1528 with the GNU implementation of the <CODE>gettext</CODE> functions.
1530 In the function <CODE>dcgettext</CODE> at every call the current setting of
1531 the highest priority environment variable is determined and used.
1532 Highest priority means here the following list with decreasing
1537 <LI><CODE>LANGUAGE</CODE>
1539 <A NAME="IDX1101"></A>
1541 <A NAME="IDX1102"></A>
1542 <LI><CODE>LC_ALL</CODE>
1544 <A NAME="IDX1103"></A>
1545 <A NAME="IDX1104"></A>
1546 <A NAME="IDX1105"></A>
1547 <A NAME="IDX1106"></A>
1548 <A NAME="IDX1107"></A>
1549 <A NAME="IDX1108"></A>
1550 <LI><CODE>LC_xxx</CODE>, according to selected locale category
1552 <A NAME="IDX1109"></A>
1553 <LI><CODE>LANG</CODE>
1557 Afterwards the path is constructed using the found value and the
1558 translation file is loaded if available.
1560 What happens now when the value for, say, <CODE>LANGUAGE</CODE> changes? According
1561 to the process explained above the new value of this variable is found
1562 as soon as the <CODE>dcgettext</CODE> function is called. But this also means
1563 the (perhaps) different message catalog file is loaded. In other
1564 words: the used language is changed.
1566 But there is one little hook. The code for gcc-2.7.0 and up provides
1567 some optimization. This optimization normally prevents the calling of
1568 the <CODE>dcgettext</CODE> function as long as no new catalog is loaded. But
1569 if <CODE>dcgettext</CODE> is not called the program also cannot find the
1570 <CODE>LANGUAGE</CODE> variable be changed (see section <A HREF="gettext_11.html#SEC189">11.2.7 Optimization of the *gettext functions</A>). A
1571 solution for this is very easy. Include the following code in the
1572 language switching function.
1576 /* Change language. */
1577 setenv ("LANGUAGE", "fr", 1);
1579 /* Make change known. */
1581 extern int _nl_msg_cat_cntr;
1586 <A NAME="IDX1110"></A>
1587 The variable <CODE>_nl_msg_cat_cntr</CODE> is defined in <TT>‘loadmsgcat.c’</TT>.
1588 You don't need to know what this is for. But it can be used to detect
1589 whether a <CODE>gettext</CODE> implementation is GNU gettext and not non-GNU
1590 system's native gettext implementation.
1596 <H2><A NAME="SEC193" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC193">11.6 Temporary Notes for the Programmers Chapter</A></H2>
1599 <STRONG> NOTE: </STRONG> This documentation section is outdated and needs to be
1606 <H3><A NAME="SEC194" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC194">11.6.1 Temporary - Two Possible Implementations</A></H3>
1609 There are two competing methods for language independent messages:
1610 the X/Open <CODE>catgets</CODE> method, and the Uniforum <CODE>gettext</CODE>
1611 method. The <CODE>catgets</CODE> method indexes messages by integers; the
1612 <CODE>gettext</CODE> method indexes them by their English translations.
1613 The <CODE>catgets</CODE> method has been around longer and is supported
1614 by more vendors. The <CODE>gettext</CODE> method is supported by Sun,
1615 and it has been heard that the COSE multi-vendor initiative is
1616 supporting it. Neither method is a POSIX standard; the POSIX.1
1617 committee had a lot of disagreement in this area.
1621 Neither one is in the POSIX standard. There was much disagreement
1622 in the POSIX.1 committee about using the <CODE>gettext</CODE> routines
1623 vs. <CODE>catgets</CODE> (XPG). In the end the committee couldn't
1624 agree on anything, so no messaging system was included as part
1625 of the standard. I believe the informative annex of the standard
1626 includes the XPG3 messaging interfaces, “...as an example of
1627 a messaging system that has been implemented...”
1631 They were very careful not to say anywhere that you should use one
1632 set of interfaces over the other. For more on this topic please
1633 see the Programming for Internationalization FAQ.
1638 <H3><A NAME="SEC195" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC195">11.6.2 Temporary - About <CODE>catgets</CODE></A></H3>
1641 There have been a few discussions of late on the use of
1642 <CODE>catgets</CODE> as a base. I think it important to present both
1643 sides of the argument and hence am opting to play devil's advocate
1648 I'll not deny the fact that <CODE>catgets</CODE> could have been designed
1649 a lot better. It currently has quite a number of limitations and
1650 these have already been pointed out.
1654 However there is a great deal to be said for consistency and
1655 standardization. A common recurring problem when writing Unix
1656 software is the myriad portability problems across Unix platforms.
1657 It seems as if every Unix vendor had a look at the operating system
1658 and found parts they could improve upon. Undoubtedly, these
1659 modifications are probably innovative and solve real problems.
1660 However, software developers have a hard time keeping up with all
1661 these changes across so many platforms.
1665 And this has prompted the Unix vendors to begin to standardize their
1666 systems. Hence the impetus for Spec1170. Every major Unix vendor
1667 has committed to supporting this standard and every Unix software
1668 developer waits with glee the day they can write software to this
1669 standard and simply recompile (without having to use autoconf)
1670 across different platforms.
1674 As I understand it, Spec1170 is roughly based upon version 4 of the
1675 X/Open Portability Guidelines (XPG4). Because <CODE>catgets</CODE> and
1676 friends are defined in XPG4, I'm led to believe that <CODE>catgets</CODE>
1677 is a part of Spec1170 and hence will become a standardized component
1678 of all Unix systems.
1683 <H3><A NAME="SEC196" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC196">11.6.3 Temporary - Why a single implementation</A></H3>
1686 Now it seems kind of wasteful to me to have two different systems
1687 installed for accessing message catalogs. If we do want to remedy
1688 <CODE>catgets</CODE> deficiencies why don't we try to expand <CODE>catgets</CODE>
1689 (in a compatible manner) rather than implement an entirely new system.
1690 Otherwise, we'll end up with two message catalog access systems installed
1691 with an operating system - one set of routines for packages using GNU
1692 <CODE>gettext</CODE> for their internationalization, and another set of routines
1693 (catgets) for all other software. Bloated?
1697 Supposing another catalog access system is implemented. Which do
1698 we recommend? At least for Linux, we need to attract as many
1699 software developers as possible. Hence we need to make it as easy
1700 for them to port their software as possible. Which means supporting
1701 <CODE>catgets</CODE>. We will be implementing the <CODE>libintl</CODE> code
1702 within our <CODE>libc</CODE>, but does this mean we also have to incorporate
1703 another message catalog access scheme within our <CODE>libc</CODE> as well?
1704 And what about people who are going to be using the <CODE>libintl</CODE>
1705 + non-<CODE>catgets</CODE> routines. When they port their software to
1706 other platforms, they're now going to have to include the front-end
1707 (<CODE>libintl</CODE>) code plus the back-end code (the non-<CODE>catgets</CODE>
1708 access routines) with their software instead of just including the
1709 <CODE>libintl</CODE> code with their software.
1713 Message catalog support is however only the tip of the iceberg.
1714 What about the data for the other locale categories? They also have
1715 a number of deficiencies. Are we going to abandon them as well and
1716 develop another duplicate set of routines (should <CODE>libintl</CODE>
1717 expand beyond message catalog support)?
1721 Like many parts of Unix that can be improved upon, we're stuck with balancing
1722 compatibility with the past with useful improvements and innovations for
1728 <H3><A NAME="SEC197" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC197">11.6.4 Temporary - Notes</A></H3>
1731 X/Open agreed very late on the standard form so that many
1732 implementations differ from the final form. Both of my system (old
1733 Linux catgets and Ultrix-4) have a strange variation.
1737 OK. After incorporating the last changes I have to spend some time on
1738 making the GNU/Linux <CODE>libc</CODE> <CODE>gettext</CODE> functions. So in future
1739 Solaris is not the only system having <CODE>gettext</CODE>.
1743 Go to the <A HREF="gettext_1.html">first</A>, <A HREF="gettext_10.html">previous</A>, <A HREF="gettext_12.html">next</A>, <A HREF="gettext_25.html">last</A> section, <A HREF="gettext_toc.html">table of contents</A>.