MSGMERGE(1)

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

💖 MSGMERGE — bestie edition 💖

okay so real talk: this is the msgmerge page from section 1 (User Commands) of the manual, and it's literally about smashing two translation files together so your .po stays cute and current. let's go 🦋

✨ NAME ✨

msgmerge — merge message catalog and template 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

msgmerge [OPTION] def.po ref.pot

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so what it does: it merges two Uniforum style .po files together. periodt. 💅

here's the tea on each one:

  • def.po — this is your existing PO file, the one with actual translations. those translations get carried over into the brand-new file as long as they still match. comments? preserved, bestie. but extracted comments and file positions get thrown out. 🙈
  • ref.pot — this is the most recently created PO file, the one with up-to-date source references but old translations. OR it's a PO Template file (usually something xgettext made). any translations or comments inside it get discarded — BUT dot comments and file positions are preserved. 💖

and when it can't find an exact match? it uses fuzzy matching to get better results. slay.

also important, no cap: mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

🌸 Input file location 🌸

  • def.po — translations referring to old sources
  • ref.pot — references to new sources
  • -D, --directory=DIRECTORY — add DIRECTORY to the list for input files search
  • -C, --compendium=FILE — an extra library of message translations; you can specify this more than once, bestie, stack 'em 🎀

🌸 Operation mode 🌸

  • -U, --update — update def.po, and do literally nothing if def.po is already up to date

🌸 Output file location 🌸

  • -o, --output-file=FILE — write output to the specified file

The results go to standard output if you don't give an output file, or if it's -.

Output file location in update mode: the result gets written back to def.po.

  • --backup=CONTROL — make a backup of def.po
  • --suffix=SUFFIX — override the usual backup suffix

The version control method can be picked via the --backup option or through the VERSION_CONTROL environment variable. here are the values, icons only:

  • none, off — never make backups (even if --backup is given) 💀
  • numbered, t — make numbered backups
  • existing, nil — numbered if numbered backups exist, simple otherwise
  • simple, never — always make simple backups

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

🌸 Operation modifiers 🌸

  • -m, --multi-domain — apply ref.pot to each of the domains in def.po
  • --for-msgfmt — produce output for 'msgfmt', not for a translator
  • -N, --no-fuzzy-matching — do not use fuzzy matching
  • --previous — keep previous msgids of translated messages

🌸 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 🌸

  • --lang=CATALOGNAME — set the 'Language' field in the header entry
  • --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 CSS style rule file for --color
  • -e, --no-escape — do not use C escapes in output (default)
  • -E, --escape — use C escapes in output, no extended chars
  • --force-po — write PO file even if empty
  • -i, --indent — indented output style
  • --no-location — suppress '#: filename:line' lines
  • -n, --add-location — preserve '#: filename:line' lines (default)
  • --strict — strict Uniforum output style
  • -p, --properties-output — write out a Java .properties file
  • --stringtable-output — write out a NeXTstep/GNUstep .strings file
  • -w, --width=NUMBER — set 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 (deprecated ⚠️)
  • -F, --sort-by-file — sort output by file location
🚩 heads up bestie: -s / --sort-output is deprecated. it still exists, but like… it's giving legacy.

🌸 Informative output 🌸

  • -h, --help — display this help and exit
  • -V, --version — output version information and exit
  • -v, --verbose — increase verbosity level
  • -q, --quiet, --silent — suppress progress indicators

✨ AUTHOR ✨

Written by Peter Miller and Bruno Haible. 👑

✨ 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. 😭

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

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. 🌈

and that's the whole page, bestie!! this was the msgmerge man page from GNU gettext-tools 1.0, dated January 2026 — go forth and merge those catalogs, you absolute icon 💖✨🎀🦋

📦 where this page comes from