Locale::Msgcat - Perl extension for blah blah blah

  use Locale::Msgcat;

  $cat = new Locale::Msgcat;

  $rc  = $cat->catopen(name, oflag);
  $msg = $cat->catgets(set_number, message_number, string);
  $rc  = $cat->catclose();

The Locale::Msgcat module allows access to the message catalog functions which are available on some systems. A new Locale::Msgcat object must first be created for each catalog which has to be open at a given time.

The catopen operation opens the catalog whose name is given as argument. The oflag can be either 0 or NL_CAT_LOCALE (usually 1) which is the recommended value.

The catgets message retrieves message_number for the set_number message set, and if not found returns string.

The catclose function should be used when access to a catalog is not needed anymore.

  use Locale::Msgcat;

  $cat = new Locale::Msgcat;
  unless ($cat->catopen("whois.cat", 1)) {
      print STDERR "Can't open whois catalog.\n";
      exit(1);
  }
  printf "First message, first set : %s\n", $cat->catgets(1, 1, "not found");
  unless ($cat->catclose()) {
      print STDERR "Can't close whois catalog.\n";
      exit(1);
  }

The above example would print the first message from the first message set found in the whois catalog, or if not found it would print "not found".

Christophe Wolfhugel, wolf@pasteur.fr

catopen(3), catclose(3), catgets(3), perl(1).