use Locale::gettext;
use POSIX; # Needed for setlocale()
setlocale(LC_MESSAGES, "");
# OO interface
my $d = Locale::gettext->domain("my_program");
print $d->get("Welcome to my program"), "\n";
# (printed in the local language)
# Direct access to C functions
textdomain("my_program");
print gettext("Welcome to my program"), "\n";
# (printed in the local language)
DESCRIPTION
The gettext module permits access from perl to the gettext() family of
functions for retrieving message strings from databases constructed
to internationalize software.
$d = Locale::gettext->domain(DOMAIN)
$d = Locale::gettext->domain_raw(DOMAIN)
Creates a new object for retrieving strings in the domain DOMAIN
and returns it. "domain" requests that strings be returned as
Perl strings (possibly with wide characters) if possible while
"domain_raw" requests that octet strings directly from functions
like "dgettext()".
$d->get(MSGID)
Calls "dgettext()" to return the translated string for the given
MSGID.
$d->cget(MSGID, CATEGORY)
Calls "dcgettext()" to return the translated string for the given
MSGID in the given CATEGORY.
$d->nget(MSGID, MSGID_PLURAL, N)
Calls "dngettext()" to return the translated string for the given
MSGID or MSGID_PLURAL depending on N.
$d->ncget(MSGID, MSGID_PLURAL, N, CATEGORY)
Calls "dngettext()" to return the translated string for the given
MSGID or MSGID_PLURAL depending on N in the given
CATEGORY.
$d->dir([NEWDIR])
If NEWDIR is given, calls "bindtextdomain" to set the
name of the directory where messages for the domain
represented by $d are found. Returns the (possibly changed)
current directory name.
$d->codeset([NEWCODE])
For instances created with "Locale::gettext->domain_raw", manuiplates
the character set of the returned strings.
If NEWCODE is given, calls "bind_textdomain_codeset" to set the
character encoding in which messages for the domain
represented by $d are returned. Returns the (possibly changed)
current encoding name.
gettext(), dgettext(), and dcgettext() attempt to retrieve a string
matching their "msgid" parameter within the context of the current
locale. dcgettext() takes the message's category and the text domain
as parameters while dgettext() defaults to the LC_MESSAGES category
and gettext() defaults to LC_MESSAGES and uses the current text domain.
If the string is not found in the database, then "msgid" is returned.
ngettext(), dngettext(), and dcngettext() function similarily but
implement differentiation of messages between singular and plural.
See the documentation for the corresponding C functions for details.
textdomain() sets the current text domain and returns the previously
active domain.
bindtextdomain(domain, dirname) instructs the retrieval functions to look
for the databases belonging to domain "domain" in the directory
"dirname"
bind_textdomain_codeset(domain, codeset) instructs the retrieval
functions to translate the returned messages to the character encoding
given by codeset if the encoding of the message catalog is known.
NOTES
Not all platforms provide all of the functions. Functions that are
not available in the underlying C library will not be available in
Perl either.
Perl programs should use the object interface. In addition to being
able to return native Perl wide character strings,
"bind_textdomain_codeset" will be emulated if the C library does
not provide it.