gettxt(1)

NAME

     gettxt - retrieve a text string from a message database

SYNOPSIS

     gettxt msgfile : msgnum [dflt_msg]

DESCRIPTION

     gettxt retrieves a text string from a message  file  in  the
     directory  /usr/lib/locale/locale/LC_MESSAGES  .  The direc-
     tory name locale corresponds to the language  in  which  the
     text strings are written; see setlocale(3C).

     msgfile
           Name    of    the    file     in     the     directory
           /usr/lib/locale/locale/LC_MESSAGES  to retrieve msgnum
           from. The name of msgfile can be up to  14  characters
           in length, but may not contain either \0 (null) or the
           ASCII code for / (slash) or : (colon).

     msgnum
           Sequence  number  of  the  string  to  retrieve   from
           msgfile.  The  strings in msgfile are numbered sequen-
           tially from 1 to n, where n is the number  of  strings
           in the file.

     dflt_msg
           Default string to be  displayed  if  gettxt  fails  to
           retrieve  msgnum  from  msgfile. Nongraphic characters
           must be represented as alphabetic escape sequences.

     The text string to be retrieved  is  in  the  file  msgfile,
     created  by  the  mkmsgs(1)  utility and installed under the
     directory /usr/lib/locale/locale/LC_MESSAGES   . You control
     which directory is searched by setting the environment vari-
     able LC_MESSAGES. If LC_MESSAGES is not set, the environment
     variable  LANG  will  be used. If LANG is not set, the files
     containing   the   strings   are   under    the    directory
     /usr/lib/locale/C/LC_MESSAGES .

     If gettxt fails to  retrieve  a  message  in  the  requested
     language,  it  will  try  to  retrieve the same message from
     /usr/lib/locale/C/LC_MESSAGES/ msgfile. If this also  fails,
     and  if  dflt_msg  is  present  and  non-null,  then it will
     display the value of dflt_msg; if dflt_msg is not present or
     is  null,  then  it  will  display  the  string  Message not
     found!!.

EXAMPLES

     Example 1: The environment variables LANG and LC_MESSAGES.

     If the environment variables LANG or  LC_MESSAGES  have  not
     been  set  to other than their default values, the following
     example:

     example% gettxt UX:10 "hello world\n"

     will   try   to   retrieve    the    10th    message    from
     /usr/lib/locale/C/UX/msgfile.  If  the  retrieval fails, the
     message "hello  world,"  followed  by  a  newline,  will  be
     displayed.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

     See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment
     variables  that affect the execution of gettxt: LC_CTYPE and
     LC_MESSAGES.

     LC_CTYPE
           Determines  how  gettxt   handles   characters.   When
           LC_CTYPE  is  set to a valid value, gettxt can display
           and handle text and filenames containing valid charac-
           ters  for  that  locale. gettxt can display and handle
           Extended Unix Code (EUC) characters where any  indivi-
           dual  character  can  be 1, 2, or 3 bytes wide. gettxt
           can also handle EUC characters of 1, 2, or more column
           widths.  In  the  "C" locale, only characters from ISO
           8859-1 are valid.

     LC_MESSAGES
           Determines how diagnostic and informative messages are
           presented. This includes the language and style of the
           messages, and the  correct  form  of  affirmative  and
           negative  responses.   In the "C" locale, the messages
           are presented in the default form found in the program
           itself (in most cases, U.S. English).

FILES

     /usr/lib/locale/C/LC_MESSAGES/*
           default message files created by mkmsgs(1)

     /usr/lib/locale/locale/LC_MESSAGES/*
           message  files  for  different  languages  created  by
           mkmsgs(1)

ATTRIBUTES

     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:

     ____________________________________________________________
    |       ATTRIBUTE TYPE        |       ATTRIBUTE VALUE       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Availability                | SUNWloc                     |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | CSI                         | Enabled                     |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|

SEE ALSO

     exstr(1), mkmsgs(1), srchtxt(1), gettxt(3C),  setlocale(3C),
     attributes(5), environ(5)