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  ear-
     lier call to catopen(3).  The fourth argument message points
     to a default message string which will be returned  by  cat-
     gets()  if  the  identified message catalog is not currently
     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  ter-
     minated with a null byte.

RETURN VALUES

     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  mes-
     sage catalog specified by catalog is not available, while an
     empty string is returned when the message catalog is  avail-
     able  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)