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GNU gettext utilities - 13 Other Programming Languages Go to the first, previous, next, last section, table of contents.

13 Other Programming Languages

While the presentation of gettext focuses mostly on C and implicitly applies to C++ as well, its scope is far broader than that: Many programming languages, scripting languages and other textual data like GUI resources or package descriptions can make use of the gettext approach.

13.1 The Language Implementor's View

All programming and scripting languages that have the notion of strings are eligible to supporting gettext. Supporting gettext means the following:

You should add to the language a syntax for translatable strings. In principle, a function call of gettext would do, but a shorthand syntax helps keeping the legibility of internationalized programs. For example, in C we use the syntax _("string"), in bash we use the syntax $"string", and in GNU awk we use the shorthand _"string".
You should arrange that evaluation of such a translatable string at runtime calls the gettext function, or performs equivalent processing.
Similarly, you should make the functions ngettext, dcgettext, dcngettext available from within the language. These functions are less often used, but are nevertheless necessary for particular purposes: ngettext for correct plural handling, and dcgettext and dcngettext for obeying other locale environment variables than LC_MESSAGES, such as LC_TIME or LC_MONETARY. For these latter functions, you need to make the LC_* constants, available in the C header <locale.h>, referenceable from within the language, usually either as enumeration values or as strings.
You should allow the programmer to designate a message domain, either by making the textdomain function available from within the language, or by introducing a magic variable called TEXTDOMAIN. Similarly, you should allow the programmer to designate where to search for message catalogs, by providing access to the bindtextdomain function.
You should either perform a setlocale (LC_ALL, "") call during the startup of your language runtime, or allow the programmer to do so. Remember that gettext will act as a no-op if the LC_MESSAGES and LC_CTYPE locale facets are not both set.
A programmer should have a way to extract translatable strings from a program into a PO file. The GNU xgettext program is being extended to support very different programming languages. Please contact the GNU gettext maintainers to help them doing this. If the string extractor is best integrated into your language's parser, GNU xgettext can function as a front end to your string extractor.
The language's library should have a string formatting facility where the arguments of a format string are denoted by a positional number or a name. This is needed because for some languages and some messages with more than one substitutable argument, the translation will need to output the substituted arguments in different order. See section 3.5 Special Comments preceding Keywords.
If the language has more than one implementation, and not all of the implementations use gettext, but the programs should be portable across implementations, you should provide a no-i18n emulation, that makes the other implementations accept programs written for yours, without actually translating the strings.
To help the programmer in the task of marking translatable strings, which is usually performed using the Emacs PO mode, you are welcome to contact the GNU gettext maintainers, so they can add support for your language to `po-mode.el´.

On the implementation side, three approaches are possible, with different effects on portability and copyright:

You may integrate the GNU gettext's `intl/´ directory in your package, as described in section 12 The Maintainer's View. This allows you to have internationalization on all kinds of platforms. Note that when you then distribute your package, it legally falls under the GNU General Public License, and the GNU project will be glad about your contribution to the Free Software pool.
You may link against GNU gettext functions if they are found in the C library. For example, an autoconf test for gettext() and ngettext() will detect this situation. For the moment, this test will succeed on GNU systems and not on other platforms. No severe copyright restrictions apply.
You may emulate or reimplement the GNU gettext functionality. This has the advantage of full portability and no copyright restrictions, but also the drawback that you have to reimplement the GNU gettext features (such as the LANGUAGE environment variable, the locale aliases database, the automatic charset conversion, and plural handling).

13.2 The Programmer's View

For the programmer, the general procedure is the same as for the C language. The Emacs PO mode supports other languages, and the GNU xgettext string extractor recognizes other languages based on the file extension or a command-line option. In some languages, setlocale is not needed because it is already performed by the underlying language runtime.

13.3 The Translator's View

The translator works exactly as in the C language case. The only difference is that when translating format strings, she has to be aware of the language's particular syntax for positional arguments in format strings.

13.3.1 C Format Strings

C format strings are described in POSIX (IEEE P1003.1 2001), section XSH 3 fprintf(), http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/007904975/functions/fprintf.html. See also the fprintf(3) manual page, http://www.linuxvalley.it/encyclopedia/ldp/manpage/man3/printf.3.php, http://informatik.fh-wuerzburg.de/student/i510/man/printf.html.

13.3.2 Python Format Strings

Python format strings are described in Python Library reference / 2. Built-in Types, Exceptions and Functions / 2.2. Built-in Types / 2.2.6. Sequence Types / 2.2.6.2. String Formatting Operations. http://www.python.org/doc/2.2.1/lib/typesseq-strings.html.

13.3.3 Lisp Format Strings

Lisp format strings are described in the Common Lisp HyperSpec, chapter 22.3 Formatted Output, http://www.lisp.org/HyperSpec/Body/sec_22-3.html.

13.3.4 Emacs Lisp Format Strings

Emacs Lisp format strings are documented in the Emacs Lisp reference, section Formatting Strings, http://www.gnu.org/manual/elisp-manual-21-2.8/html_chapter/elisp_4.html#SEC75. Note that as of version 21, XEmacs supports numbered argument specifications in format strings while FSF Emacs doesn't.

13.3.5 librep Format Strings

librep format strings are documented in the librep manual, section Formatted Output, http://librep.sourceforge.net/librep-manual.html#Formatted%20Output, http://www.gwinnup.org/research/docs/librep.html#SEC122.

13.3.6 Smalltalk Format Strings

Smalltalk format strings are described in the GNU Smalltalk documentation, class CharArray, methods `bindWith:´ and `bindWithArguments:´. http://www.gnu.org/software/smalltalk/gst-manual/gst_68.html#SEC238. In summary, a directive starts with `%´ and is followed by `%´ or a nonzero digit (`1´ to `9´).

13.3.7 Java Format Strings

Java format strings are described in the JDK documentation for class java.text.MessageFormat, http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4/docs/api/java/text/MessageFormat.html. See also the ICU documentation http://oss.software.ibm.com/icu/apiref/classMessageFormat.html.

13.3.8 awk Format Strings

awk format strings are described in the gawk documentation, section Printf, http://www.gnu.org/manual/gawk/html_node/Printf.html#Printf.

13.3.9 Object Pascal Format Strings

Where is this documented?

13.3.10 YCP Format Strings

YCP sformat strings are described in the libycp documentation file:/usr/share/doc/packages/libycp/YCP-builtins.html. In summary, a directive starts with `%´ and is followed by `%´ or a nonzero digit (`1´ to `9´).

13.3.11 Tcl Format Strings

Tcl format strings are described in the `format.n´ manual page, http://www.scriptics.com/man/tcl8.3/TclCmd/format.htm.

13.4 The Maintainer's View

For the maintainer, the general procedure differs from the C language case in two ways.

For those languages that don't use GNU gettext, the `intl/´ directory is not needed and can be omitted. This means that the maintainer calls the gettextize program without the `--intl´ option, and that he invokes the AM_GNU_GETTEXT autoconf macro via `AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external])´.
If only a single programming language is used, the XGETTEXT_OPTIONS variable in `po/Makevars´ (see section 12.4.3 `Makefile´ pieces in `po/´) should be adjusted to match the xgettext options for that particular programming language. If the package uses more than one programming language with gettext support, it becomes necessary to change the POT file construction rule in `po/Makefile.in.in´. It is recommended to make one xgettext invocation per programming language, each with the options appropriate for that language, and to combine the resulting files using msgcat.

13.5 Individual Programming Languages

13.5.1 C, C++, Objective C

RPMs: gcc, gpp, gobjc, glibc, gettext
File extension: For C: c, h.
For C++: C, c++, cc, cxx, cpp, hpp.
For Objective C: m.
String syntax: "abc"
gettext shorthand: _("abc")
gettext/ngettext functions: gettext, dgettext, dcgettext, ngettext, dngettext, dcngettext
textdomain: textdomain function
bindtextdomain: bindtextdomain function
setlocale: Programmer must call setlocale (LC_ALL, "")
Prerequisite: #include <libintl.h>
#include <locale.h>
#define _(string) gettext (string)
Use or emulate GNU gettext: Use
Extractor: xgettext -k_
Formatting with positions: fprintf "%2$d %1$d" (POSIX but not C 99)
Portability: autoconf (gettext.m4) and #if ENABLE_NLS
po-mode marking: yes

13.5.2 sh - Shell Script

RPMs: bash, gettext
File extension: sh
String syntax: "abc", 'abc', abc
gettext shorthand: "`gettext "abc"`"
gettext/ngettext functions: gettext, ngettext programs
textdomain: environment variable TEXTDOMAIN
bindtextdomain: environment variable TEXTDOMAINDIR
setlocale: automatic
Prerequisite: ---
Use or emulate GNU gettext: use
Extractor: ---
Formatting with positions: ---
Portability: ---
po-mode marking: ---

13.5.3 bash - Bourne-Again Shell Script

RPMs: bash 2.0 or newer, gettext
File extension: sh
String syntax: "abc", 'abc', abc
gettext shorthand: $"abc"
gettext/ngettext functions: gettext, ngettext programs
textdomain: environment variable TEXTDOMAIN
bindtextdomain: environment variable TEXTDOMAINDIR
setlocale: automatic
Prerequisite: ---
Use or emulate GNU gettext: use
Extractor: bash --dump-po-strings
Formatting with positions: ---
Portability: ---
po-mode marking: ---

13.5.4 Python

RPMs: python
File extension: py
String syntax: 'abc', u'abc', r'abc', ur'abc',
"abc", u"abc", r"abc", ur"abc",
"'abc"', u"'abc"', r"'abc"', ur"'abc"',
"""abc""", u"""abc""", r"""abc""", ur"""abc"""
gettext shorthand: _('abc') etc.
gettext/ngettext functions: gettext.gettext, gettext.dgettext, also ugettext
textdomain: gettext.textdomain function, or gettext.install(domain) function
bindtextdomain: gettext.bindtextdomain function, or gettext.install(domain,localedir) function
setlocale: not used by the gettext emulation
Prerequisite: import gettext
Use or emulate GNU gettext: emulate. Bug: uses only the first found .mo file, not all of them
Extractor: xgettext
Formatting with positions: '...%(ident)d...' % { 'ident': value }
Portability: fully portable
po-mode marking: ---

13.5.5 GNU clisp - Common Lisp

RPMs: clisp 2.28 or newer
File extension: lisp
String syntax: "abc"
gettext shorthand: (_ "abc"), (ENGLISH "abc")
gettext/ngettext functions: i18n:gettext, i18n:ngettext
textdomain: i18n:textdomain
bindtextdomain: i18n:textdomaindir
setlocale: automatic
Prerequisite: ---
Use or emulate GNU gettext: use
Extractor: xgettext -k_ -kENGLISH
Formatting with positions: format "~1@*~D ~0@*~D"
Portability: On platforms without gettext, no translation.
po-mode marking: ---

13.5.6 GNU clisp C sources

RPMs: clisp
File extension: d
String syntax: "abc"
gettext shorthand: ENGLISH ? "abc" : ""
GETTEXT("abc")
GETTEXTL("abc")
gettext/ngettext functions: clgettext, clgettextl
textdomain: ---
bindtextdomain: ---
setlocale: automatic
Prerequisite: #include "lispbibl.c"
Use or emulate GNU gettext: use
Extractor: clisp-xgettext
Formatting with positions: fprintf "%2$d %1$d" (POSIX but not C 99)
Portability: On platforms without gettext, no translation.
po-mode marking: ---

13.5.7 Emacs Lisp

RPMs: emacs, xemacs
File extension: el
String syntax: "abc"
gettext shorthand: (_"abc")
gettext/ngettext functions: gettext, dgettext (xemacs only)
textdomain: domain special form (xemacs only)
bindtextdomain: bind-text-domain function (xemacs only)
setlocale: automatic
Prerequisite: ---
Use or emulate GNU gettext: use
Extractor: xgettext
Formatting with positions: format "%2$d %1$d"
Portability: Only XEmacs. Without I18N3 defined at build time, no translation.
po-mode marking: ---

13.5.8 librep

RPMs: librep 0.15.3 or newer
File extension: jl
String syntax: "abc"
gettext shorthand: (_"abc")
gettext/ngettext functions: gettext
textdomain: textdomain function
bindtextdomain: bindtextdomain function
setlocale: ---
Prerequisite: (require 'rep.i18n.gettext)
Use or emulate GNU gettext: use
Extractor: xgettext
Formatting with positions: format "%2$d %1$d"
Portability: On platforms without gettext, no translation.
po-mode marking: ---

13.5.9 GNU Smalltalk

RPMs: smalltalk
File extension: st
String syntax: "abc"
gettext shorthand: NLS? "abc"
self? "abc"
gettext/ngettext functions: LcMessagesDomain>>#at:, LcMessagesDomain>>#at:plural:with:
textdomain: LcMessages>>#? (returns a LcMessagesDomain object).
Example: Locale default messages ? 'gettext'
bindtextdomain: LcMessages>>#domain:directory: (returns a LcMessagesDomain object)
setlocale: You can obtain any Locale object from Locale class methods such as #fromString: or #default.
Example: Locale default messages gives the LcMessages object for the default locale.
Prerequisite: The gettext code is contained in the `I18N´ package.
Use or emulate GNU gettext: emulate
Extractor: ---
Formatting with positions: '%1 %2' bindWith: 'Hello' with: 'world'
Portability: fully portable
po-mode marking: ---

13.5.10 Java

RPMs: java, java2
File extension: java
String syntax: "abc"
gettext shorthand: _("abc")
gettext/ngettext functions: GettextResource.gettext, GettextResource.ngettext
textdomain: ---, use ResourceBundle.getResource instead
bindtextdomain: ---, use CLASSPATH instead
setlocale: automatic
Prerequisite: ---
Use or emulate GNU gettext: ---, uses a Java specific message catalog format
Extractor: xgettext -k_
Formatting with positions: MessageFormat.format "{1,number} {0,number}"
Portability: fully portable
po-mode marking: ---

Before marking strings as internationalizable, uses of the string concatenation operator need to be converted to MessageFormat applications. For example, "file "+filename+" not found" becomes MessageFormat.format("file {0} not found", new Object[] { filename }). Only after this is done, can the strings be marked and extracted.

GNU gettext uses the native Java internationalization mechanism, namely ResourceBundles. To convert a PO file to a ResourceBundle, the msgfmt program can be used with the option --java or --java2. To convert a ResourceBundle back to a PO file, the msgunfmt program can be used with the option --java.

Two different programmatic APIs can be used to access ResourceBundles. Note that both APIs work with all kinds of ResourceBundles, whether GNU gettext generated classes, or other .class or .properties files.

The java.util.ResourceBundle API. In particular, its getString function returns a string translation. Note that a missing translation yields a MissingResourceException. This has the advantage of being the standard API. And it does not require any additional libraries, only the msgfmt generated .class files. But it cannot do plural handling, even if the resource was generated from a PO file with plural handling.
The gnu.gettext.GettextResource API. Reference documentation in Javadoc 1.1 style format is in the javadoc1 directory and in Javadoc 2 style format in the javadoc2 directory. Its gettext function returns a string translation. Note that when a translation is missing, the msgid argument is returned unchanged. This has the advantage of having the ngettext function for plural handling. To use this API, one needs the libintl.jar file which is part of the GNU gettext package and distributed under the LGPL.

13.5.11 GNU awk

RPMs: gawk 3.1 or newer
File extension: awk
String syntax: "abc"
gettext shorthand: _"abc"
gettext/ngettext functions: dcgettext, missing dcngettext in gawk-3.1.0
textdomain: TEXTDOMAIN variable
bindtextdomain: bindtextdomain function
setlocale: automatic, but missing setlocale (LC_MESSAGES, "") in gawk-3.1.0
Prerequisite: ---
Use or emulate GNU gettext: use
Extractor: xgettext
Formatting with positions: printf "%2$d %1$d" (GNU awk only)
Portability: On platforms without gettext, no translation. On non-GNU awks, you must define dcgettext, dcngettext and bindtextdomain yourself.
po-mode marking: ---

13.5.12 Pascal - Free Pascal Compiler

RPMs: fpk
File extension: pp, pas
String syntax: 'abc'
gettext shorthand: automatic
gettext/ngettext functions: ---, use ResourceString data type instead
textdomain: ---, use TranslateResourceStrings function instead
bindtextdomain: ---, use TranslateResourceStrings function instead
setlocale: automatic, but uses only LANG, not LC_MESSAGES or LC_ALL
Prerequisite: {$mode delphi} or {$mode objfpc}
uses gettext;
Use or emulate GNU gettext: emulate partially
Extractor: ppc386 followed by xgettext or rstconv
Formatting with positions: uses sysutils;
format "%1:d %0:d"
Portability: ?
po-mode marking: ---

The Pascal compiler has special support for the ResourceString data type. It generates a .rst file. This is then converted to a .pot file by use of xgettext or rstconv. At runtime, a .mo file corresponding to translations of this .pot file can be loaded using the TranslateResourceStrings function in the gettext unit.

13.5.13 wxWindows library

RPMs: wxGTK, gettext
File extension: cpp
String syntax: "abc"
gettext shorthand: _("abc")
gettext/ngettext functions: wxLocale::GetString, wxGetTranslation
textdomain: wxLocale::AddCatalog
bindtextdomain: wxLocale::AddCatalogLookupPathPrefix
setlocale: wxLocale::Init, wxSetLocale
Prerequisite: #include <wx/intl.h>
Use or emulate GNU gettext: emulate, see include/wx/intl.h and src/common/intl.cpp
Extractor: xgettext
Formatting with positions: ---
Portability: fully portable
po-mode marking: yes

13.5.14 YCP - YaST2 scripting language

RPMs: libycp, libycp-devel, yast2-core-translator
File extension: ycp
String syntax: "abc"
gettext shorthand: _("abc")
gettext/ngettext functions: _() with 1 or 3 arguments
textdomain: textdomain statement
bindtextdomain: ---
setlocale: ---
Prerequisite: ---
Use or emulate GNU gettext: use maps instead
Extractor: xgettext
Formatting with positions: sformat "%2 %1"
Portability: fully portable
po-mode marking: ---

13.5.15 Tcl - Tk's scripting language

RPMs: tcl
File extension: tcl
String syntax: "abc"
gettext shorthand: [_ "abc"]
gettext/ngettext functions: ::msgcat::mc
textdomain: ---
bindtextdomain: ---, use ::msgcat::mcload instead
setlocale: automatic, uses LANG, but ignores LC_MESSAGES and LC_ALL
Prerequisite: package require msgcat
proc _ {s} {return [::msgcat::mc $s]}
Use or emulate GNU gettext: ---, uses a Tcl specific message catalog format
Extractor: xgettext -k_
Formatting with positions: format "%2\$d %1\$d"
Portability: fully portable
po-mode marking: ---

Before marking strings as internationalizable, substitutions of variables into the string need to be converted to format applications. For example, "file $filename not found" becomes [format "file %s not found" $filename]. Only after this is done, can the strings be marked and extracted. After marking, this example becomes [format [_ "file %s not found"] $filename] or [msgcat::mc "file %s not found" $filename]. Note that the msgcat::mc function implicitly calls format when more than one argument is given.