CATGETS(3)							   CATGETS(3)



NAME
       catgets - get message from a message catalog

SYNOPSIS
       #include 

       char  *catgets(nl_catd  catalog,	 int  set_number, int message_number,
       const char *message);

DESCRIPTION
       catgets() reads the message message_number, in  set  set_number,	 from
       the  message catalog identified by catalog, where catalog is a catalog
       descriptor returned from an earlier call to  catopen(3).	  The  fourth
       argument	 message  points  to  a	 default message string which will be
       returned by catgets() if the identified message catalog	is  not	 cur-
       rently  available. The message-text is contained in an internal buffer
       area and should be copied by the application if it is to be  saved  or
       modified. The return string is always terminated with a null byte.

RETURN VALUE
       On  success,  catgets()	returns	 a pointer to an internal buffer area
       containing the null-terminated message string.  On failure,  catgets()
       returns the value message.

NOTES
       These  functions	 are only available in libc.so.4.4.4c and above.  The
       Jan 1987 X/Open	Portability  Guide  specifies  a  more	subtle	error
       return:	message is returned if the message catalog specified by cata-
       log is not available, while an empty string is returned when the	 mes-
       sage  catalog is available but does not contain the specified message.
       These two possible error returns seem to be  discarded  in  XPG4.2  in
       favour of always returning message.

CONFORMING TO
       XPG4.2

SEE ALSO
       catopen(3), setlocale(3)



				  1998-08-09			   CATGETS(3)