The GNU gettext toolset helps programmers and translators
at producing, updating and using translation files, mainly those
PO files which are textual, editable files. This chapter explains
the format of PO files.
A PO file is made up of many entries, each entry holding the relation between an original untranslated string and its corresponding translation. All entries in a given PO file usually pertain to a single project, and all translations are expressed in a single target language. One PO file entry has the following schematic structure:
white-space # translator-comments #. extracted-comments #: reference... #, flag... #| msgid previous-untranslated-string msgid untranslated-string msgstr translated-string
The general structure of a PO file should be well understood by the translator. When using PO mode, very little has to be known about the format details, as PO mode takes care of them for her.
A simple entry can look like this:
#: lib/error.c:116 msgid "Unknown system error" msgstr "Error desconegut del sistema"
Entries begin with some optional white space. Usually, when generated
through GNU gettext tools, there is exactly one blank line
between entries. Then comments follow, on lines all starting with the
character #. There are two kinds of comments: those which have
some white space immediately following the # - the translator
comments -, which comments are created and maintained exclusively by the
translator, and those which have some non-white character just after the
# - the automatic comments -, which comments are created and
maintained automatically by GNU gettext tools. Comment lines
starting with #. contain comments given by the programmer, directed
at the translator; these comments are called extracted comments
because the xgettext program extracts them from the program’s
source code. Comment lines starting with #: contain references to
the program’s source code. Comment lines starting with #, contain
flags; more about these below. Comment lines starting with #|
contain the previous untranslated string for which the translator gave
a translation.
All comments, of either kind, are optional.
References to the program’s source code, in lines that start with #:,
are of the form file_name:line_number or just
file_name. If the file_name contains spaces. it is enclosed
within Unicode characters U+2068 and U+2069.