# GETTEXT

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
AUTHOR
REPORTING BUGS
COPYRIGHT
SEE ALSO

## NAME

gettext - translate message

## SYNOPSIS

gettext [OPTION] [[TEXTDOMAIN] MSGID]
gettext [OPTION] -s [MSGID]...

## DESCRIPTION

The gettext program translates a natural language message into the user’s language, by looking up the translation in a message catalog.

Display native language translation of a textual message.

Options and arguments:
-d, --domain=TEXTDOMAIN

retrieve translated messages from TEXTDOMAIN

-c, --context=CONTEXT

specify context for MSGID

| -e |  | enable expansion of some escape sequences |
| -n |  | suppress trailing newline |
| -E |  | (ignored for compatibility) |

[TEXTDOMAIN] MSGID

retrieve translated message corresponding to MSGID from TEXTDOMAIN

Informative output:
-h, --help

display this help and exit

-V, --version

display version information and exit

If the TEXTDOMAIN parameter is not given, the domain is determined from the environment variable TEXTDOMAIN. If the message catalog is not found in the regular directory, another location can be specified with the environment variable TEXTDOMAINDIR. When used with the -s option the program behaves like the ’echo’ command. But it does not simply copy its arguments to stdout. Instead those messages found in the selected catalog are translated. Standard search directory: /usr/share/locale

## AUTHOR

Written by Ulrich Drepper.

## REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs in the bug tracker at <https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/gettext> or by email to <bug-gettext@gnu.org>.

## COPYRIGHT

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 gettext is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and gettext programs are properly installed at your site, the command

info gettext

should give you access to the complete manual.