CSTRINGS(1) CSTRINGS(1)
July 10, 1990
NAME
cstrings -- quick-and-dirty internationalization tool
SYNOPSIS
cstrings [-c] [-r ranges] [-t template] [-m minlength] files...
DESCRIPTION
This tool can be used to massage input C source so that literal
strings in it are replaced by generated #define symbols, with the list
of #defines prepended to the resulting source code. String literals on
#include and #define lines and in comments are skipped.
If no filenames are given, standard input is filtered to standard
output. If filenames are given (and appropriate write permissions are
present), each file is replaced by its converted result (the replace
is done with a link(2), so the program is signal-safe). To avoid
heartbreak and death threats to the author, it is recommended that you
not use this feature without looking at the filtered version first to
ensure that it's what you really want.
The string argument of a -r option is interpreted as a comma-separated
list of line numbers or line number ranges to which the string
filtering is to be limited. A range of the form "<num1>-" is taken to
signify all lines from line <num1> to EOF; a range of the form "-
<num2>" signifies all lines from the start of file to line <num2>.
Additionally, any range or number may be preceded by '!'; this causes
filtering to be suppressed for the lines designated. If the first
character of a range option is '!', filtering is assumed initially on
for all lines, rather than off.
The -t option sets the template with which string labels are
generated. The default is "G%05d". The template is sprintf'ed with a
sequence number as argument.
The -m option takes a numeric argument, interpreted as a minimum
length. All strings less than that size are ignored. Note that this
minimum length defaults to 3, you must say -m 1 or -m 2 to see all
short strings.
The -c option suppresses the normal action and instead causes a list
of strings that would otherwise be #define-ized (each preceded by its
line number) to be emitted to stdout. If -c is used with file
arguments a report with sections headed by file names will be
generated.
The -c option permits you to anticipate the effects of a substitution
without having to look at the whole source file.
This tool is best used by doing repeated -c runs, adding to an -r
argument until you have it down to filtering just the lines you want,
and then dropping the -c to do the actual conversion. Then you can
- 1 - Formatted: November 6, 2025
CSTRINGS(1) CSTRINGS(1)
July 10, 1990
move the list of generated #defines to an appropriate spot with a text
editor.
BUGS
This program makes no effort to be intelligent about duplicate
strings. Also, it doesn't handle quoted quotes within strings.
AUTHOR
Eric S. Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com>. See my WWW home page at
http://www.ccil.org/~esr/home.html for updates and other resources.
- 2 - Formatted: November 6, 2025
