man > BINDTEXTDOMAIN(3)

BINDTEXTDOMAIN(3)                     Library Functions Manual                     BINDTEXTDOMAIN(3)

NAME
       bindtextdomain - set directory containing message catalogs

SYNOPSIS
       #include <libintl.h>

       char * bindtextdomain (const char * domainname, const char * dirname);

DESCRIPTION
       The bindtextdomain function sets the base directory of the hierarchy containing message cata‐
       logs for a given message domain.

       A message domain is a set of translatable msgid messages. Usually, every software package has
       its  own  message domain. The need for calling bindtextdomain arises because packages are not
       always installed with the same prefix as the <libintl.h>  header  and  the  libc/libintl  li‐
       braries.

       Message  catalogs  will  be  expected at the pathnames dirname/locale/category/domainname.mo,
       where locale is a locale name and category is a locale facet such as LC_MESSAGES.

       domainname must be a non-empty string.

       If dirname is not NULL, the base directory for message catalogs belonging to  domain  domain‐
       name  is  set to dirname. The function makes copies of the argument strings as needed. If the
       program wishes to call the chdir function, it is important that dirname be an absolute  path‐
       name; otherwise it cannot be guaranteed that the message catalogs will be found.

       If dirname is NULL, the function returns the previously set base directory for domain domain‐
       name.

RETURN VALUE
       If  successful, the bindtextdomain function returns the current base directory for domain do‐
       mainname, after possibly changing it. The resulting string is  valid  until  the  next  bind‐
       textdomain  call for the same domainname and must not be modified or freed. If a memory allo‐
       cation failure occurs, it sets errno to ENOMEM and returns NULL.

ERRORS
       The following error can occur, among others:

       ENOMEM Not enough memory available.

BUGS
       The return type ought to be const char *, but is char * to avoid warnings in C code predating
       ANSI C.

SEE ALSO
       gettext(3), dgettext(3),  dcgettext(3),  ngettext(3),  dngettext(3),  dcngettext(3),  textdo‐
       main(3), realpath(3)

GNU gettext 0.20.1.124-32cf                   May 2001                             BINDTEXTDOMAIN(3)