genstrings(1) BSD General Commands Manual genstrings(1)
NAME
genstrings -- generate string table from source code
SYNOPSIS
genstrings [-j] [-a] [-s <routine>] [-skipTable <Table>] [-noPositionalParameters]
[-bigEndian | -littleEndian] [-u] [-macRoman] [-q] [-o <outputDir>] file
...
DESCRIPTION
The genstrings utility generates a .strings file(s) from the C, Objective-C, or Java (.c, .m, or .java)
source code file(s) given as the argument(s). A .strings file is used for localizing an application
for different languages, as described under "Internationalization" in the Cocoa Developer Documenta-tion. Documentation.
tion.
* C and Objective-C:
Source lines containing text of the form NSLocalizedString("key", comment) or CFCopyLocalized-String("key", CFCopyLocalizedString("key",
String("key", comment) will generate an appropriate string table entry to a file named Localiz-able.strings. Localizable.strings.
able.strings.
Source lines containing NSLocalizedStringFromTable("key", Table, comment) or CFCopyLocalized-StringFromTable("key", CFCopyLocalizedStringFromTable("key",
StringFromTable("key", Table, comment) will generate an appropriate string table entry in a file named
Table.strings.
Source lines with NSLocalizedStringFromTableInBundle("key", Table, bundle, comment) or CFCopyLocalized-StringFromTableInBundle("key", CFCopyLocalizedStringFromTableInBundle("key",
StringFromTableInBundle("key", Table, bundle, comment) will generate an appropriate string table entry
in Table.strings.
Source lines with NSLocalizedStringWithDefaultValue("key", Table, bundle, "value", comment) or CFCopy-LocalizedStringWithDefaultValue("key", CFCopyLocalizedStringWithDefaultValue("key",
LocalizedStringWithDefaultValue("key", Table, bundle, "value", comment) will generate an appropriate
string table entry in Table.strings.
* Java:
The -j option sets the expected input language to Java. In this case the above keywords are changed to
Bundle.localizedString, Bundle.localizedStringFromTable, Bundle.localizedStringFromTableInBundle, and
Bundle.localizedStringWithDefaultValue (instead of the Objective-C defaults).
* Format Strings and Positional Parameters:
Keys and values of string file entries can include formatting characters. For value strings with mul-tiple multiple
tiple formatting arguments, positional parameters are generated. These allow the order of arguments to
be changed as needed by each localization (e.g. "File %1$@ contains %2$d bytes." could become "%2$d
bytes are contained in file %1$@." in another localization).
* Encoding:
By default, genstrings will read UTF-8 encoded source files and source files with no non-ASCII charac-ters. characters.
ters. Mac Roman encoded files that contain non-ASCII characters will not be read successfully unless
the -macRoman compatibility flag is used. Developers are strongly encouraged to move to UTF-8 as the
encoding for source files as the -macRoman option may be removed in future versions.
Embedded non-ASCII characters in UTF-8 files, as well as non-ASCII characters specified by the escape
sequences \uxxxx and \Uxxxxxxxx are read automatically by genstrings. The -u option and genstrings-specific genstringsspecific
specific escape sequence are also supported.
Generated .strings files are UTF-16 encoded. Host endianness is used unless the -bigEndian or -lit-tleEndian -littleEndian
tleEndian option is specified. The endian options do not affect .strings files being appended to with
the -a option. The byte order of the existing file is maintained.
OPTIONS
-a Allows the output to be appended to the old output files. However, -a causes the results to be
appended to the end of the old file and not merged.
-s routine
Substitutes routine for NSLocalizedString. For example, -s MyLocalString will catch calls to MyLo-calString MyLocalString
calString and MyLocalStringFromTable.
-skipTable Table
Causes genstrings to skip over the file for Table. Note that any entries in this table will not be
generated.
-noPositionalParameters
Turns off generation of positional parameters.
-u Allow unicode characters in the value of strings files. Any occurrence of \\Uxxxx (where xxxx are
four hex digits) in the source code will be written to the strings file with its Unicode value (in
terms of \\Uxxxx) for the key, but the actual Unicode value for its value. For Example, CFCopyLo-calizedString(CFSTR("AB\\U0043D"), CFCopyLocalizedString(CFSTR("AB\\U0043D"),
calizedString(CFSTR("AB\\U0043D"), "Comment") will result in the key/value pair "AB\\U0043D" =
"ABCD".
Note that non-ASCII characters can now be handled automatically without this option. See 'Encod-ing' 'Encoding'
ing' section above for details.
-macRoman
For compatibility, read source files using Mac Roman encoding. See 'Encoding' section above for
details.
-q Turns off multiple key/value pairs warning
-o outputDir
Specifies what directory the tables should be created in.
Mac OS X May 7, 2007 Mac OS X
|