# MSGINIT

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
AUTHOR
REPORTING BUGS
COPYRIGHT
SEE ALSO

## NAME

msginit - initialize a message catalog

## SYNOPSIS

msginit [OPTION]

## DESCRIPTION

Creates a new PO file, initializing the meta information with values from the user’s environment.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

Input file location:
-i, --input=INPUTFILE

input POT file

If no input file is given, the current directory is searched for the POT file. If it is -, standard input is read.

Output file location:
-o, --output-file=FILE

write output to specified PO file

If no output file is given, it depends on the --locale option or the user’s locale setting. If the output file already exists, it is merged with the input file, as if through ’msgmerge’. If it is -, the results are written to standard output.

Input file syntax:
-P, --properties-input

input file is in Java .properties syntax

--stringtable-input

input file is in NeXTstep/GNUstep .strings syntax

Output details:
-l, --locale=LL_CC[.ENCODING]

set target locale

--no-translator

assume the PO file is automatically generated

--color

use colors and other text attributes always

--color=WHEN

use colors and other text attributes if WHEN. WHEN may be ’always’, ’never’, ’auto’, or ’html’.

--style=STYLEFILE

specify CSS style rule file for --color

-p, --properties-output

write out a Java .properties file

--stringtable-output

write out a NeXTstep/GNUstep .strings file

-w, --width=NUMBER

set output page width

--no-wrap

do not break long message lines, longer than the output page width, into several lines

Informative output:
-h, --help

display this help and exit

-V, --version

output version information and exit

## AUTHOR

Written by Bruno Haible.

## 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 © 2001-2026 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 msginit is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and msginit programs are properly installed at your site, the command

info msginit

should give you access to the complete manual.