---
name: "textdomain"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "gettext"
version: "1.0-2"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/textdomain"
---

# textdomain(3)

set domain for future gettext() calls

## NAME

textdomain - set domain for future gettext() calls

## SYNOPSIS

```
#include <libintl.h>

char * textdomain (const char * domainname);
```

## DESCRIPTION

The **textdomain** function sets or retrieves the current message domain.

A message domain is a set of translatable *msgid* messages. Usually, every software package has its own message domain. The domain name is used to determine the message catalog where a translation is looked up; it must be a non-empty string.

The current message domain is used by the **gettext**, **ngettext** functions, and by the **dgettext**, **dcgettext**, **dngettext** and **dcngettext** functions when called with a NULL domainname argument.

If *domainname* is not NULL, the current message domain is set to *domainname*. The string the function stores internally is a copy of the *domainname* argument.

If *domainname* is NULL, the function returns the current message domain.

## RETURN VALUE

If successful, the **textdomain** function returns the current message domain, after possibly changing it. The resulting string is valid until the next **textdomain** call and must not be modified or freed. If a memory allocation failure occurs, it sets **errno** to **ENOMEM** and returns NULL.

## ERRORS

The following error can occur, among others:

- **ENOMEM**

  Not enough memory available.

## BUGS

The return type ought to be **const char \***, but is **char \*** to avoid warnings in C code predating ANSI C.

## SEE ALSO

[**gettext**(3)](/gettext/3.md), [**ngettext**(3)](/ngettext/3.md), [**bindtextdomain**(3)](/bindtextdomain/3.md), [**bind\_textdomain\_codeset**(3)](/bind_textdomain_codeset/3.md)