msggrep1
Pattern matching on message catalog
Usage
msggrep [OPTION]
[INPUTFILE]
Overview
Extracts all messages of a translation catalog that match a given pattern or belong to some given source files.
Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
Input file location:
- INPUTFILE
-
input PO file
-
-D, --directory=DIRECTORY -
add DIRECTORY to list for input files search
If no input file is given or if it is -, standard input is read.
Output file location:
-
-o, --output-file=FILE -
write output to specified file
The results are written to standard output if no output file is specified or if it is -.
Message selection:
-
[-N SOURCEFILE]... [-M DOMAINNAME]... [-J MSGCTXT-PATTERN] [-K MSGID-PATTERN] [-T MSGSTR-PATTERN] [-C COMMENT-PATTERN] [-X EXTRACTED-COMMENT-PATTERN] [-W WORKFLOW-FLAG] [-S STICKY-FLAG]
A message is selected if it comes from one of the specified source files, or if it comes from one of the specified domains, or if -J is given and its context (msgctxt) matches MSGCTXT-PATTERN, or if -K is given and its key (msgid or msgid_plural) matches MSGID-PATTERN, or if -T is given and its translation (msgstr) matches MSGSTR-PATTERN, or if -C is given and the translator's comment matches COMMENT-PATTERN, or if -X is given and the extracted comment matches EXTRACTED-COMMENT-PATTERN, or if -W is given and its flags contain WORKFLOW-FLAG, or if -S is given and its flags contain STICKY-FLAG.
When more than one selection criterion is specified, the set of selected messages is the union of the selected messages of each criterion.
MSGCTXT-PATTERN or MSGID-PATTERN or MSGSTR-PATTERN or COMMENT-PATTERN or EXTRACTED-COMMENT-PATTERN syntax:
-
[-E |
-F][-e PATTERN |-fFILE]...
PATTERNs are basic regular expressions by default, or extended regular expressions if -E is given, or fixed strings if -F is given.
-
-N, --location=SOURCEFILE -
select messages extracted from SOURCEFILE
-
-M, --domain=DOMAINNAME -
select messages belonging to domain DOMAINNAME
-
-J, --msgctxt -
start of patterns for the msgctxt
-
-K, --msgid -
start of patterns for the msgid
-
-T, --msgstr -
start of patterns for the msgstr
-
-C, --comment -
start of patterns for the translator's comment
-
-X, --extracted-comment -
start of patterns for the extracted comment
-
-E, --extended-regexp -
PATTERN is an extended regular expression
-
-F, --fixed-strings -
PATTERN is a set of newline-separated strings
-
-e, --regexp=PATTERN -
use PATTERN as a regular expression
-
-f, --file=FILE -
obtain PATTERN from FILE
-
-i, --ignore-case -
ignore case distinctions
-
-W, --workflow-flag=FLAG -
select messages with FLAG
-
-S, --sticky-flag=FLAG -
select messages with FLAG
-
-v, --invert-match -
output only the messages that do not match any selection criterion
Input file syntax:
-
-P, --properties-input -
input file is in Java .properties syntax
-
--stringtable-input -
input file is 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 CSS style rule file for
--color
-
--no-escape -
do not use C escapes in output (default)
-
--escape -
use C escapes in output, no extended chars
-
--force-po -
write PO file even if empty
-
--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
-
--sort-output -
generate sorted output
-
--sort-by-file -
sort output by file location
Informative output:
-
-h, --help -
display this help and exit
-
-V, --version -
output version information and exit
History
- Arch Linux 2026-11-01: the text shown here
- Debian 13 (Trixie)
- Debian 12 (Bookworm)
- Debian 11 (Bullseye)
- Debian 10 (Buster) to Debian 9 (Stretch)
- Debian 8 (Jessie)
- Debian 7 (Wheezy) to Debian 6.0 (Squeeze)
- Debian 5.0 (Lenny)
- Debian 4.0 (Etch)
- Debian 3.1 (Sarge)
--color since Debian 6.0 (Squeeze);
--extracted-comment since Debian 4.0 (Etch);
--invert-match since Debian 4.0 (Etch);
--msgctxt since Debian 4.0 (Etch);
--sticky-flag since Arch Linux 2026-11-01;
--style since Debian 6.0 (Squeeze);
--workflow-flag since Arch Linux 2026-11-01;
-J since Debian 4.0 (Etch);
-S since Arch Linux 2026-11-01;
-W since Arch Linux 2026-11-01;
-X since Debian 4.0 (Etch);
-n since Debian 8 (Jessie);
-v since Debian 4.0 (Etch).