xgotext

A command-line tool for extracting translatable strings from Go source code that uses the gotext library for internationalization. This tool generates POT (Portable Object Template) files that can be used with standard translation tools.

Features

• Extracts translatable strings from Go source files
• Supports all gotext translation functions (Get, GetD, GetN, GetC, GetND, GetNC, GetNDC)
• Handles multi-line strings
• Preserves context and plural forms
• Automatically removes duplicates while maintaining source references
• Supports excluding specific files or directories
• Provides verbose output option for debugging

Installation

go install github.com/Tom5521/xgotext@latest

Usage

Basic usage:

xgotext --input ./path/to/source --output messages.pot

Command Line Options

• --input: Input file or directory path (default: ".")
• --output: Output POT file path (default: "default.pot")
• --project-version: Project version to include in the POT file
• --lang: Language code to include in the POT file
• --nplurals: Number of plurals for the target language (default: 2)
• --exclude: Files or directories to exclude from processing (can be specified multiple times)
• --verbose: Enable verbose output

Examples

Extract strings from current directory:

xgotext --output messages.pot

Process a specific directory with version information:

xgotext --input ./cmd --output messages.pot --project-version "1.0.0"

Exclude certain directories:

xgotext --input . --output messages.pot --exclude vendor --exclude tests

Enable verbose output:

xgotext --input . --output messages.pot --verbose

Supported Translation Functions

The tool extracts strings from the following gotext function calls:

• gotext.Get(message)
• gotext.GetD(domain, message)
• gotext.GetN(message, plural, n)
• gotext.GetC(message, context)
• gotext.GetND(domain, message, plural, n)
• gotext.GetNC(message, plural, n, context)
• gotext.GetNDC(domain, message, plural, n, context)

Output Format

The generated POT file follows the standard gettext format, including:

• Source file references with line numbers
• Context information when available
• Plural forms
• Support for multi-line strings
• Empty msgstr fields ready for translation

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

MIT Licence

Acknowledgments

• xgotext - The reason I did this, their tool does not work.
• gotext - The Go internationalization library this tool is designed to work with
• spf13/pflag - Command line flag parsing