1BINDTEXTDOMAIN(3) Library Functions Manual BINDTEXTDOMAIN(3)
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6 bindtextdomain - set directory containing message catalogs
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9 #include <libintl.h>
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11 char * bindtextdomain (const char * domainname, const char * dirname);
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14 The bindtextdomain function sets the base directory of the hierarchy
15 containing message catalogs for a given message domain.
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17 A message domain is a set of translatable msgid messages. Usually, ev‐
18 ery software package has its own message domain. The need for calling
19 bindtextdomain arises because packages are not always installed with
20 the same prefix as the <libintl.h> header and the libc/libintl li‐
21 braries.
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23 Message catalogs will be expected at the pathnames dirname/locale/cate‐
24 gory/domainname.mo, where locale is a locale name and category is a lo‐
25 cale facet such as LC_MESSAGES.
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27 domainname must be a non-empty string.
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29 If dirname is not NULL, the base directory for message catalogs belong‐
30 ing to domain domainname is set to dirname. The function makes copies
31 of the argument strings as needed. If the program wishes to call the
32 chdir function, it is important that dirname be an absolute pathname;
33 otherwise it cannot be guaranteed that the message catalogs will be
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36 If dirname is NULL, the function returns the previously set base direc‐
37 tory for domain domainname.
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40 If successful, the bindtextdomain function returns the current base di‐
41 rectory for domain domainname, after possibly changing it. The result‐
42 ing string is valid until the next bindtextdomain call for the same do‐
43 mainname and must not be modified or freed. If a memory allocation
44 failure occurs, it sets errno to ENOMEM and returns NULL.
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47 The following error can occur, among others:
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49 ENOMEM Not enough memory available.
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52 The return type ought to be const char *, but is char * to avoid warn‐
53 ings in C code predating ANSI C.
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56 gettext(3), dgettext(3), dcgettext(3), ngettext(3), dngettext(3), dc‐
57 ngettext(3), textdomain(3), realpath(3)
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61GNU gettext 20220912 May 2001 BINDTEXTDOMAIN(3)