MSGCOMM(1)

📦
version 1.0 · 11 versions
, in alpine 3.24, arch rolling, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable, ubuntu stonking

🌸 MSGCOMM(1) — User Commands 🌸

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, and let me tell you about msgcomm — it lives in the GNU gettext-tools 1.0 era (January 2026 vibes) and it is literally the friend-group matchmaker for translation files. 💖

✨ NAME ✨

msgcomm — match two message catalogs 🫶

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

msgcomm [OPTION] [INPUTFILE]...

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

So the whole ~thing~ is: you hand it a bunch of PO files and it finds the messages that are common to two or more of them. Bestie matchmaking, but for strings. 🌈

Wanna be picky about how much overlap counts? Say less:

  • use --more-than if you want to demand greater commonality before anything gets printed
  • use --less-than if you want to lower the bar before anything gets printed — fr fr, --less-than=2 will only print the unique messages ✨

Translations, comments and extracted comments? Preserved, no cap — but only from the first PO file to define them. And file positions from all PO files get cumulated. 👑

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too. (yes, that rule applies here too, don't fight it 💀)

📂 Input file location: 📂

  • INPUTFILE ... — the input files, obviously 💖
  • -f, --files-from=FILE — grab your list of input files from FILE instead
  • -D, --directory=DIRECTORY — add DIRECTORY to the list it searches for input files in
If an input file is -, standard input gets read. classic move 🎀

💾 Output file location: 💾

  • -o, --output-file=FILE — write the output to the specified file
No output file specified, or it's -? Then results go to standard output. that's it, that's the deal ✨

🔍 Message selection: 🔍

  • -<, --less-than=NUMBER — print messages with less than this many definitions. defaults to infinite if you don't set it 🌸
  • ->, --more-than=NUMBER — print messages with more than this many definitions. defaults to 1 if you don't set it 🌸
  • -u, --unique — shorthand for --less-than=2, i.e. "pls only print the unique messages bestie" 💅

📝 Input file syntax: 📝

  • -P, --properties-input — input files are in Java .properties syntax
  • --stringtable-input — input files are in NeXTstep/GNUstep .strings syntax

🎨 Output details: 🎨

  • --color — use colors and other text attributes always
  • --color=WHEN — use colors and other text attributes if WHEN. WHEN may be 'always', 'never', 'auto', or 'html' 🌈
  • --style=STYLEFILE — specify the CSS style rule file for --color
  • -e, --no-escape — do not use C escapes in output (this is the default, btw)
  • -E, --escape — use C escapes in output, no extended chars
  • --force-po — write the PO file even if it's empty 🫶
  • -i, --indent — write the .po file using indented style
  • --no-location — do not write '#: filename:line' lines
  • -n, --add-location — generate '#: filename:line' lines (default ✨)
  • --strict — write out a strict Uniforum conforming .po file
  • -p, --properties-output — write out a Java .properties file
  • --stringtable-output — write out a NeXTstep/GNUstep .strings file
  • -w, --width=NUMBER — set the output page width
  • --no-wrap — do not break long message lines (longer than the output page width) into several lines
  • -s, --sort-output — generate sorted output
  • -F, --sort-by-file — sort output by file location
  • --omit-header — don't write the header with the 'msgid ""' entry 🙈

📣 Informative output: 📣

  • -h, --help — display this help and exit 🥰
  • -V, --version — output version information and exit ✨

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Written by Peter Miller. icon behavior, honestly 💜

🐛 REPORTING BUGS 🐛

Found a bug? (😭) Report it in the bug tracker at <https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/gettext> or by email to <bug-gettext@gnu.org>.

Copyright © 1995-2026 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. (yes, screaming that one, it matters 💀)

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

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

info msgcomm

should give you access to the complete manual. slay 💅

and that's the whole page bestie — this was GNU gettext-tools 1.0, dated January 2026. go forth and match your catalogs, mwah 🫶💖

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