GENCAT(1)			 HP-UX 5.0		     GENCAT(1)

     NAME
	  gencat - generate a formatted message catalog file

     SYNOPSIS
	  gencat catfile file ...

     HP-UX COMPATIBILITY
	  Level:    HP-UX/STANDARD

	  Origin:   HP

	  Native Language Support:
		    8-bit and 16-bit data, customs, messages

     DESCRIPTION
	  Gencat merges message source files into a formatted  catfile
	  which	 can  be  accessed by getmsg(3C).  If catfile does not
	  exist it  will  be  created.	 If  catfile  does  exist  its
	  messages  will be included in the new catfile unless set and
	  message numbers collide, in which case  the  new  supersedes
	  the  old.   The files consist of sets of messages along with
	  comments.

	  The format for message source in the files has been designed
	  to  include  compatibility  with  MPE and RTE.  A line which
	  begins with a dollar sign followed  by  a  blank  denotes  a
	  comment and may appear anywhere in a file.

	  A message set consists of a line of the form

	       $setn [comment]

	  followed by lines of the form

	      m message-text

	  where n denotes the set number (1-255)  and  m  the  message
	  number  (1-32767).  Typically the set number will be used to
	  identify the language,  while	 the  message  number  denotes
	  which	 string	 from a given program is wanted.  Message-text
	  is a C  string,  including  white  space  and	 `\'  escapes,
	  without  the surrounding quotes.  A $set line may optionally
	  contain comment text following the set number.  Set  numbers
	  and  message numbers must be in ascending order but need not
	  be contiguous.

	  If a message source line has a number but no text  then  the
	  existing  message  with  this	 number	 is  deleted  from the
	  catalog.

	  To delete an entire message set the directive
	       $DELSET set_name

	  may be placed at the beginning of a line between sets.

     SEE ALSO
	  findmsg(1), insertmsg(1), getmsg(3C).