gettext.info: gettext

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11.2 About `gettext'
====================

   The definition of the `gettext' interface comes from a Uniforum
proposal.  It was submitted there by Sun, who had implemented the
`gettext' function in SunOS 4, around 1990.  Nowadays, the `gettext'
interface is specified by the OpenI18N standard.

   The main point about this solution is that it does not follow the
method of normal file handling (open-use-close) and that it does not
burden the programmer with so many tasks, especially the unique key
handling.  Of course here also a unique key is needed, but this key is
the message itself (how long or short it is).  See Note: Comparison
for a more detailed comparison of the two methods.

   The following section contains a rather detailed description of the
interface.  We make it that detailed because this is the interface we
chose for the GNU `gettext' Library.  Programmers interested in using
this library will be interested in this description.

Interface to gettext

The interface

Ambiguities

Solving ambiguities

Locating Catalogs

Locating message catalog files

Charset conversion

How to request conversion to Unicode

Contexts

Solving ambiguities in GUI programs

Plural forms

Additional functions for handling plurals

Optimized gettext

Optimization of the *gettext functions