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<H1><A NAME="SEC7" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC7">2 PO Files and PO Mode Basics</A></H1>
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The GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> toolset helps programmers and translators
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at producing, updating and using translation files, mainly those
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PO files which are textual, editable files. This chapter stresses
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the format of PO files, and contains a PO mode starter. PO mode
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description is spread throughout this manual instead of being concentrated
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in one place. Here we present only the basics of PO mode.
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<H2><A NAME="SEC8" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC8">2.1 Completing GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> Installation</A></H2>
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Once you have received, unpacked, configured and compiled the GNU
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<CODE>gettext</CODE> distribution, the <SAMP>`make install'</SAMP> command puts in
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place the programs <CODE>xgettext</CODE>, <CODE>msgfmt</CODE>, <CODE>gettext</CODE>, and
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<CODE>msgmerge</CODE>, as well as their available message catalogs. To
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top off a comfortable installation, you might also want to make the
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PO mode available to your Emacs users.
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During the installation of the PO mode, you might want to modify your
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file <TT>`.emacs'</TT>, once and for all, so it contains a few lines looking
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(cons '("\\.po[tx]?\\'\\|\\.po\\." . po-mode) auto-mode-alist))
48
(autoload 'po-mode "po-mode" "Major mode for translators to edit PO files" t)
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Later, whenever you edit some <TT>`.po'</TT>, <TT>`.pot'</TT> or <TT>`.pox'</TT>
53
file, or any file having the string <SAMP>`.po.'</SAMP> within its name,
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Emacs loads <TT>`po-mode.elc'</TT> (or <TT>`po-mode.el'</TT>) as needed, and
55
automatically activates PO mode commands for the associated buffer.
56
The string <EM>PO</EM> appears in the mode line for any buffer for
57
which PO mode is active. Many PO files may be active at once in a
62
If you are using Emacs version 20 or newer, and have already installed
63
the appropriate international fonts on your system, you may also tell
64
Emacs how to determine automatically the coding system of every PO file.
65
This will often (but not always) cause the necessary fonts to be loaded
66
and used for displaying the translations on your Emacs screen. For this
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to happen, add the lines:
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(modify-coding-system-alist 'file "\\.po[tx]?\\'\\|\\.po\\."
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'po-find-file-coding-system)
74
(autoload 'po-find-file-coding-system "po-mode")
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to your <TT>`.emacs'</TT> file. If, with this, you still see boxes instead
79
of international characters, try a different font set (via Shift Mouse
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<H2><A NAME="SEC9" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC9">2.2 The Format of PO Files</A></H2>
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A PO file is made up of many entries, each entry holding the relation
89
between an original untranslated string and its corresponding
90
translation. All entries in a given PO file usually pertain
91
to a single project, and all translations are expressed in a single
92
target language. One PO file <STRONG>entry</STRONG> has the following schematic
98
<VAR>white-space</VAR>
99
# <VAR>translator-comments</VAR>
100
#. <VAR>automatic-comments</VAR>
101
#: <VAR>reference</VAR>...
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#, <VAR>flag</VAR>...
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msgid <VAR>untranslated-string</VAR>
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msgstr <VAR>translated-string</VAR>
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The general structure of a PO file should be well understood by
109
the translator. When using PO mode, very little has to be known
110
about the format details, as PO mode takes care of them for her.
114
Entries begin with some optional white space. Usually, when generated
115
through GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> tools, there is exactly one blank line
116
between entries. Then comments follow, on lines all starting with the
117
character <KBD>#</KBD>. There are two kinds of comments: those which have
118
some white space immediately following the <KBD>#</KBD>, which comments are
119
created and maintained exclusively by the translator, and those which
120
have some non-white character just after the <KBD>#</KBD>, which comments
121
are created and maintained automatically by GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> tools.
122
All comments, of either kind, are optional.
126
After white space and comments, entries show two strings, namely
127
first the untranslated string as it appears in the original program
128
sources, and then, the translation of this string. The original
129
string is introduced by the keyword <CODE>msgid</CODE>, and the translation,
130
by <CODE>msgstr</CODE>. The two strings, untranslated and translated,
131
are quoted in various ways in the PO file, using <KBD>"</KBD>
132
delimiters and <KBD>\</KBD> escapes, but the translator does not really
133
have to pay attention to the precise quoting format, as PO mode fully
134
takes care of quoting for her.
138
The <CODE>msgid</CODE> strings, as well as automatic comments, are produced
139
and managed by other GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> tools, and PO mode does not
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provide means for the translator to alter these. The most she can
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do is merely deleting them, and only by deleting the whole entry.
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On the other hand, the <CODE>msgstr</CODE> string, as well as translator
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comments, are really meant for the translator, and PO mode gives her
144
the full control she needs.
148
The comment lines beginning with <KBD>#,</KBD> are special because they are
149
not completely ignored by the programs as comments generally are. The
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comma separated list of <VAR>flag</VAR>s is used by the <CODE>msgfmt</CODE>
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program to give the user some better diagnostic messages. Currently
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there are two forms of flags defined:
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This flag can be generated by the <CODE>msgmerge</CODE> program or it can be
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inserted by the translator herself. It shows that the <CODE>msgstr</CODE>
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string might not be a correct translation (anymore). Only the translator
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can judge if the translation requires further modification, or is
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acceptable as is. Once satisfied with the translation, she then removes
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this <KBD>fuzzy</KBD> attribute. The <CODE>msgmerge</CODE> program inserts this
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when it combined the <CODE>msgid</CODE> and <CODE>msgstr</CODE> entries after fuzzy
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search only. See section <A HREF="gettext_6.html#SEC25">6.3 Fuzzy Entries</A>.
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<DT><KBD>c-format</KBD>
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<DT><KBD>no-c-format</KBD>
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These flags should not be added by a human. Instead only the
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<CODE>xgettext</CODE> program adds them. In an automatized PO file processing
174
system as proposed here the user changes would be thrown away again as
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soon as the <CODE>xgettext</CODE> program generates a new template file.
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In case the <KBD>c-format</KBD> flag is given for a string the <CODE>msgfmt</CODE>
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does some more tests to check to validity of the translation.
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See section <A HREF="gettext_7.html#SEC35">7.1 Invoking the <CODE>msgfmt</CODE> Program</A>.
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A different kind of entries is used for translations which involve
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<VAR>white-space</VAR>
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# <VAR>translator-comments</VAR>
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#. <VAR>automatic-comments</VAR>
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#: <VAR>reference</VAR>...
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#, <VAR>flag</VAR>...
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msgid <VAR>untranslated-string-singular</VAR>
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msgid_plural <VAR>untranslated-string-plural</VAR>
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msgstr[0] <VAR>translated-string-case-0</VAR>
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msgstr[N] <VAR>translated-string-case-n</VAR>
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It happens that some lines, usually whitespace or comments, follow the
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very last entry of a PO file. Such lines are not part of any entry,
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and PO mode is unable to take action on those lines. By using the
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PO mode function <KBD>M-x po-normalize</KBD>, the translator may get
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rid of those spurious lines. See section <A HREF="gettext_2.html#SEC12">2.5 Normalizing Strings in Entries</A>.
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The remainder of this section may be safely skipped by those using
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PO mode, yet it may be interesting for everybody to have a better
213
idea of the precise format of a PO file. On the other hand, those
214
not having Emacs handy should carefully continue reading on.
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Each of <VAR>untranslated-string</VAR> and <VAR>translated-string</VAR> respects
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the C syntax for a character string, including the surrounding quotes
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and imbedded backslashed escape sequences. When the time comes
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to write multi-line strings, one should not use escaped newlines.
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Instead, a closing quote should follow the last character on the
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line to be continued, and an opening quote should resume the string
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at the beginning of the following PO file line. For example:
230
"Here is an example of how one might continue a very long string\n"
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"for the common case the string represents multi-line output.\n"
235
In this example, the empty string is used on the first line, to
236
allow better alignment of the <KBD>H</KBD> from the word <SAMP>`Here'</SAMP>
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over the <KBD>f</KBD> from the word <SAMP>`for'</SAMP>. In this example, the
238
<CODE>msgid</CODE> keyword is followed by three strings, which are meant
239
to be concatenated. Concatenating the empty string does not change
240
the resulting overall string, but it is a way for us to comply with
241
the necessity of <CODE>msgid</CODE> to be followed by a string on the same
242
line, while keeping the multi-line presentation left-justified, as
243
we find this to be a cleaner disposition. The empty string could have
244
been omitted, but only if the string starting with <SAMP>`Here'</SAMP> was
245
promoted on the first line, right after <CODE>msgid</CODE>.<A NAME="DOCF2" HREF="gettext_foot.html#FOOT2">(2)</A> It was not really necessary
246
either to switch between the two last quoted strings immediately after
247
the newline <SAMP>`\n'</SAMP>, the switch could have occurred after <EM>any</EM>
248
other character, we just did it this way because it is neater.
252
One should carefully distinguish between end of lines marked as
253
<SAMP>`\n'</SAMP> <EM>inside</EM> quotes, which are part of the represented
254
string, and end of lines in the PO file itself, outside string quotes,
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which have no incidence on the represented string.
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Outside strings, white lines and comments may be used freely.
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Comments start at the beginning of a line with <SAMP>`#'</SAMP> and extend
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until the end of the PO file line. Comments written by translators
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should have the initial <SAMP>`#'</SAMP> immediately followed by some white
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space. If the <SAMP>`#'</SAMP> is not immediately followed by white space,
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this comment is most likely generated and managed by specialized GNU
265
tools, and might disappear or be replaced unexpectedly when the PO
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file is given to <CODE>msgmerge</CODE>.
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<H2><A NAME="SEC10" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC10">2.3 Main PO mode Commands</A></H2>
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After setting up Emacs with something similar to the lines in
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section <A HREF="gettext_2.html#SEC8">2.1 Completing GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> Installation</A>, PO mode is activated for a window when Emacs finds a
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PO file in that window. This puts the window read-only and establishes a
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po-mode-map, which is a genuine Emacs mode, in a way that is not derived
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from text mode in any way. Functions found on <CODE>po-mode-hook</CODE>,
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if any, will be executed.
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When PO mode is active in a window, the letters <SAMP>`PO'</SAMP> appear
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in the mode line for that window. The mode line also displays how
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many entries of each kind are held in the PO file. For example,
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the string <SAMP>`132t+3f+10u+2o'</SAMP> would tell the translator that the
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PO mode contains 132 translated entries (see section <A HREF="gettext_6.html#SEC24">6.2 Translated Entries</A>,
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3 fuzzy entries (see section <A HREF="gettext_6.html#SEC25">6.3 Fuzzy Entries</A>), 10 untranslated entries
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(see section <A HREF="gettext_6.html#SEC26">6.4 Untranslated Entries</A>) and 2 obsolete entries (see section <A HREF="gettext_6.html#SEC27">6.5 Obsolete Entries</A>). Zero-coefficients items are not shown. So, in this example, if
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the fuzzy entries were unfuzzied, the untranslated entries were translated
291
and the obsolete entries were deleted, the mode line would merely display
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<SAMP>`145t'</SAMP> for the counters.
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The main PO commands are those which do not fit into the other categories of
297
subsequent sections. These allow for quitting PO mode or for managing windows
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Undo last modification to the PO file.
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Quit processing and save the PO file.
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Quit processing, possibly after confirmation.
317
Temporary leave the PO file window.
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Show help about PO mode.
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Give some PO file statistics.
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Batch validate the format of the whole PO file.
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The command <KBD>U</KBD> (<CODE>po-undo</CODE>) interfaces to the Emacs
337
<EM>undo</EM> facility. See section `Undoing Changes' in <CITE>The Emacs Editor</CITE>. Each time <KBD>U</KBD> is typed, modifications which the translator
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did to the PO file are undone a little more. For the purpose of
339
undoing, each PO mode command is atomic. This is especially true for
340
the <KBD><KBD>RET</KBD></KBD> command: the whole edition made by using a single
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use of this command is undone at once, even if the edition itself
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implied several actions. However, while in the editing window, one
343
can undo the edition work quite parsimoniously.
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The commands <KBD>Q</KBD> (<CODE>po-quit</CODE>) and <KBD>q</KBD>
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(<CODE>po-confirm-and-quit</CODE>) are used when the translator is done with the
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PO file. The former is a bit less verbose than the latter. If the file
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has been modified, it is saved to disk first. In both cases, and prior to
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all this, the commands check if some untranslated message remains in the
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PO file and, if yes, the translator is asked if she really wants to leave
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off working with this PO file. This is the preferred way of getting rid
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of an Emacs PO file buffer. Merely killing it through the usual command
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<KBD>C-x k</KBD> (<CODE>kill-buffer</CODE>) is not the tidiest way to proceed.
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The command <KBD>O</KBD> (<CODE>po-other-window</CODE>) is another, softer way,
360
to leave PO mode, temporarily. It just moves the cursor to some other
361
Emacs window, and pops one if necessary. For example, if the translator
362
just got PO mode to show some source context in some other, she might
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discover some apparent bug in the program source that needs correction.
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This command allows the translator to change sex, become a programmer,
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and have the cursor right into the window containing the program she
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(or rather <EM>he</EM>) wants to modify. By later getting the cursor back
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in the PO file window, or by asking Emacs to edit this file once again,
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PO mode is then recovered.
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The command <KBD>h</KBD> (<CODE>po-help</CODE>) displays a summary of all available PO
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mode commands. The translator should then type any character to resume
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normal PO mode operations. The command <KBD>?</KBD> has the same effect
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The command <KBD>=</KBD> (<CODE>po-statistics</CODE>) computes the total number of
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entries in the PO file, the ordinal of the current entry (counted from
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1), the number of untranslated entries, the number of obsolete entries,
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and displays all these numbers.
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The command <KBD>V</KBD> (<CODE>po-validate</CODE>) launches <CODE>msgfmt</CODE> in verbose
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mode over the current PO file. This command first offers to save the
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current PO file on disk. The <CODE>msgfmt</CODE> tool, from GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE>,
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has the purpose of creating a MO file out of a PO file, and PO mode uses
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the features of this program for checking the overall format of a PO file,
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as well as all individual entries.
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The program <CODE>msgfmt</CODE> runs asynchronously with Emacs, so the
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translator regains control immediately while her PO file is being studied.
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Error output is collected in the Emacs <SAMP>`*compilation*'</SAMP> buffer,
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displayed in another window. The regular Emacs command <KBD>C-x`</KBD>
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(<CODE>next-error</CODE>), as well as other usual compile commands, allow the
400
translator to reposition quickly to the offending parts of the PO file.
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Once the cursor is on the line in error, the translator may decide on
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any PO mode action which would help correcting the error.
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<H2><A NAME="SEC11" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC11">2.4 Entry Positioning</A></H2>
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The cursor in a PO file window is almost always part of
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an entry. The only exceptions are the special case when the cursor
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is after the last entry in the file, or when the PO file is
413
empty. The entry where the cursor is found to be is said to be the
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current entry. Many PO mode commands operate on the current entry,
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so moving the cursor does more than allowing the translator to browse
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the PO file, this also selects on which entry commands operate.
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Some PO mode commands alter the position of the cursor in a specialized
421
way. A few of those special purpose positioning are described here,
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the others are described in following sections.
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Redisplay the current entry.
435
Select the entry after the current one.
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Select the entry before the current one.
445
Select the first entry in the PO file.
449
Select the last entry in the PO file.
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Record the location of the current entry for later use.
457
Return to a previously saved entry location.
461
Exchange the current entry location with the previously saved one.
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Any Emacs command able to reposition the cursor may be used
467
to select the current entry in PO mode, including commands which
468
move by characters, lines, paragraphs, screens or pages, and search
469
commands. However, there is a kind of standard way to display the
470
current entry in PO mode, which usual Emacs commands moving
471
the cursor do not especially try to enforce. The command <KBD>.</KBD>
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(<CODE>po-current-entry</CODE>) has the sole purpose of redisplaying the
473
current entry properly, after the current entry has been changed by
474
means external to PO mode, or the Emacs screen otherwise altered.
478
It is yet to be decided if PO mode helps the translator, or otherwise
479
irritates her, by forcing a rigid window disposition while she
480
is doing her work. We originally had quite precise ideas about
481
how windows should behave, but on the other hand, anyone used to
482
Emacs is often happy to keep full control. Maybe a fixed window
483
disposition might be offered as a PO mode option that the translator
484
might activate or deactivate at will, so it could be offered on an
485
experimental basis. If nobody feels a real need for using it, or
486
a compulsion for writing it, we should drop this whole idea.
487
The incentive for doing it should come from translators rather than
488
programmers, as opinions from an experienced translator are surely
489
more worth to me than opinions from programmers <EM>thinking</EM> about
490
how <EM>others</EM> should do translation.
494
The commands <KBD>n</KBD> (<CODE>po-next-entry</CODE>) and <KBD>p</KBD>
495
(<CODE>po-previous-entry</CODE>) move the cursor the entry following,
496
or preceding, the current one. If <KBD>n</KBD> is given while the
497
cursor is on the last entry of the PO file, or if <KBD>p</KBD>
498
is given while the cursor is on the first entry, no move is done.
502
The commands <KBD><</KBD> (<CODE>po-first-entry</CODE>) and <KBD>></KBD>
503
(<CODE>po-last-entry</CODE>) move the cursor to the first entry, or last
504
entry, of the PO file. When the cursor is located past the last
505
entry in a PO file, most PO mode commands will return an error saying
506
<SAMP>`After last entry'</SAMP>. Moreover, the commands <KBD><</KBD> and <KBD>></KBD>
507
have the special property of being able to work even when the cursor
508
is not into some PO file entry, and one may use them for nicely
509
correcting this situation. But even these commands will fail on a
510
truly empty PO file. There are development plans for the PO mode for it
511
to interactively fill an empty PO file from sources. See section <A HREF="gettext_3.html#SEC16">3.3 Marking Translatable Strings</A>.
515
The translator may decide, before working at the translation of
516
a particular entry, that she needs to browse the remainder of the
517
PO file, maybe for finding the terminology or phraseology used
518
in related entries. She can of course use the standard Emacs idioms
519
for saving the current cursor location in some register, and use that
520
register for getting back, or else, use the location ring.
524
PO mode offers another approach, by which cursor locations may be saved
525
onto a special stack. The command <KBD>m</KBD> (<CODE>po-push-location</CODE>)
526
merely adds the location of current entry to the stack, pushing
527
the already saved locations under the new one. The command
528
<KBD>r</KBD> (<CODE>po-pop-location</CODE>) consumes the top stack element and
529
repositions the cursor to the entry associated with that top element.
530
This position is then lost, for the next <KBD>r</KBD> will move the cursor
531
to the previously saved location, and so on until no locations remain
536
If the translator wants the position to be kept on the location stack,
537
maybe for taking a look at the entry associated with the top
538
element, then go elsewhere with the intent of getting back later, she
539
ought to use <KBD>m</KBD> immediately after <KBD>r</KBD>.
543
The command <KBD>x</KBD> (<CODE>po-exchange-location</CODE>) simultaneously
544
repositions the cursor to the entry associated with the top element of
545
the stack of saved locations, and replaces that top element with the
546
location of the current entry before the move. Consequently, repeating
547
the <KBD>x</KBD> command toggles alternatively between two entries.
548
For achieving this, the translator will position the cursor on the
549
first entry, use <KBD>m</KBD>, then position to the second entry, and
550
merely use <KBD>x</KBD> for making the switch.
555
<H2><A NAME="SEC12" HREF="gettext_toc.html#TOC12">2.5 Normalizing Strings in Entries</A></H2>
558
There are many different ways for encoding a particular string into a
559
PO file entry, because there are so many different ways to split and
560
quote multi-line strings, and even, to represent special characters
561
by backslahsed escaped sequences. Some features of PO mode rely on
562
the ability for PO mode to scan an already existing PO file for a
563
particular string encoded into the <CODE>msgid</CODE> field of some entry.
564
Even if PO mode has internally all the built-in machinery for
565
implementing this recognition easily, doing it fast is technically
566
difficult. To facilitate a solution to this efficiency problem,
567
we decided on a canonical representation for strings.
571
A conventional representation of strings in a PO file is currently
572
under discussion, and PO mode experiments with a canonical representation.
573
Having both <CODE>xgettext</CODE> and PO mode converging towards a uniform
574
way of representing equivalent strings would be useful, as the internal
575
normalization needed by PO mode could be automatically satisfied
576
when using <CODE>xgettext</CODE> from GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE>. An explicit
577
PO mode normalization should then be only necessary for PO files
578
imported from elsewhere, or for when the convention itself evolves.
582
So, for achieving normalization of at least the strings of a given
583
PO file needing a canonical representation, the following PO mode
584
command is available:
589
<DT><KBD>M-x po-normalize</KBD>
591
Tidy the whole PO file by making entries more uniform.
596
The special command <KBD>M-x po-normalize</KBD>, which has no associated
597
keys, revises all entries, ensuring that strings of both original
598
and translated entries use uniform internal quoting in the PO file.
599
It also removes any crumb after the last entry. This command may be
600
useful for PO files freshly imported from elsewhere, or if we ever
601
improve on the canonical quoting format we use. This canonical format
602
is not only meant for getting cleaner PO files, but also for greatly
603
speeding up <CODE>msgid</CODE> string lookup for some other PO mode commands.
607
<KBD>M-x po-normalize</KBD> presently makes three passes over the entries.
608
The first implements heuristics for converting PO files for GNU
609
<CODE>gettext</CODE> 0.6 and earlier, in which <CODE>msgid</CODE> and <CODE>msgstr</CODE>
610
fields were using K&R style C string syntax for multi-line strings.
611
These heuristics may fail for comments not related to obsolete
612
entries and ending with a backslash; they also depend on subsequent
613
passes for finalizing the proper commenting of continued lines for
614
obsolete entries. This first pass might disappear once all oldish PO
615
files would have been adjusted. The second and third pass normalize
616
all <CODE>msgid</CODE> and <CODE>msgstr</CODE> strings respectively. They also
617
clean out those trailing backslashes used by XView's <CODE>msgfmt</CODE>
622
Having such an explicit normalizing command allows for importing PO
623
files from other sources, but also eases the evolution of the current
624
convention, evolution driven mostly by aesthetic concerns, as of now.
625
It is easy to make suggested adjustments at a later time, as the
626
normalizing command and eventually, other GNU <CODE>gettext</CODE> tools
627
should greatly automate conformance. A description of the canonical
628
string format is given below, for the particular benefit of those not
629
having Emacs handy, and who would nevertheless want to handcraft
630
their PO files in nice ways.
634
Right now, in PO mode, strings are single line or multi-line. A string
635
goes multi-line if and only if it has <EM>embedded</EM> newlines, that
636
is, if it matches <SAMP>`[^\n]\n+[^\n]'</SAMP>. So, we would have:
641
msgstr "\n\nHello, world!\n\n\n"
645
but, replacing the space by a newline, this becomes:
660
We are deliberately using a caricatural example, here, to make the
661
point clearer. Usually, multi-lines are not that bad looking.
662
It is probable that we will implement the following suggestion.
663
We might lump together all initial newlines into the empty string,
664
and also all newlines introducing empty lines (that is, for <VAR>n</VAR>
665
> 1, the <VAR>n</VAR>-1'th last newlines would go together on a separate
666
string), so making the previous example appear:
678
There are a few yet undecided little points about string normalization,
679
to be documented in this manual, once these questions settle.
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