Advanced Bash−Scripting Guide

Appendix E. Localization
Localization is an undocumented Bash feature.
A localized shell script echoes its text output in the language defined as the system's locale. A Linux user in
Berlin, Germany, would get script output in German, whereas his cousin in Berlin, Maryland, would get
output from the same script in English.
To create a localized script, use the following template to write all messages to the user (error messages,
prompts, etc.).
#!/bin/bash
# localized.sh
E_CDERROR=65
error()
{
printf "$@" >&2
exit $E_CDERROR
}
cd $var || error $"Can't cd to %s." "$var"
read −p $"Enter the value: " var
# ...
bash$ bash −D localized.sh
"Can't cd to %s."
"Enter the value: "
This lists all the localized text. (The −D option lists double−quoted strings prefixed by a $, without executing
the script.)
bash$ bash −−dump−po−strings localized.sh
#: a:6
msgid "Can't cd to %s."
msgstr ""
#: a:7
msgid "Enter the value: "
msgstr ""
The −−dump−po−strings option to Bash resembles the −D option, but uses gettext "po" format.
Now, build a language.po file for each language that the script will be translated into, specifying the
msgstr. As an example:
fr.po:
#: a:6
msgid "Can't cd to %s."
msgstr "Impossible de se positionner dans le répertoire %s."
#: a:7
msgid "Enter the value: "
msgstr "Entrez la valeur : "
Appendix E. Localization 415