Msgcheck

Msgcheck performs various checks on gettext files (with extension .po):

• compilation (with command msgfmt -c)
• for each translation:
  • number of lines in translated strings
  • whitespace at beginning/end of strings
  • trailing whitespace at end of lines inside strings
  • punctuation at end of strings
  • spelling (messages and translations).

The script requires:

• Python ≥ 3.10
• gettext (for the command msgfmt, used to compile PO files)
• the python module pyenchant for spell checking (option -s).

[!NOTE] February 7, 2026: Msgcheck is being rewritten in Rust 🦀!
Check the new project: https://github.com/poexam/poexam
Poexam is a blazingly fast PO file linter with a comprehensive diagnostic report, and many new checks.
It is under active development and your feedback is welcome!

Install

Install a released version from the Python package index with pip:

$ pip install msgcheck

Or you can run via source distribution:

$ uv run msgcheck

Usage

Syntax:

$ msgcheck [options] files [files...]

Options:

• -h, --help: display help message and exit
• -c, --no-compile: do not check compilation of file (with msgfmt -c)
• -f, --fuzzy: check fuzzy strings
• -F, --error-on-fuzzy: raise an error if fuzzy strings are found
• -n, --check-noqa: check "noqa"-commented lines (they are skipped by default)
• -l, --no-lines: do not check number of lines
• -p, --no-punct: do not check punctuation at end of strings
• -s id|str, --spelling id|str: check spelling (id = source messages, str = translations)
• -d <dicts>, --dicts <dicts>: comma-separated list of extra dictionaries to use (in addition to file language)
• -P <file>, --pwl <file>: file(s) with personal list of words used when checking spelling (this option can be given multiple times)
• -m, --only-misspelled: display only misspelled words (alias of --output-format=misspelled)
• -w, --no-whitespace: do not check whitespace at beginning/end of strings
• -W, --no-whitespace-eol: do not check whitespace at end of lines inside strings
• -e, --extract: display all translations and exit (alias of --output-format=extract)
• -i, --ignore-errors: display but ignore errors (always return 0)
• -o, --output-format: output format:
  • full: complete output
  • oneline: one line output
  • extract: display all translations (all checks except compilation are disabled in this mode)
  • misspelled: display only misspelled words
• -q, --quiet: quiet mode: only display number of errors
• -v, --version: display version and exit

The environment variable MSGCHECK_OPTIONS can be set with some default options.

The script returns exit code 0 if all files checked are OK (0 errors or option --extract given) or it returns N: number of files with errors (1 ≤ N ≤ 255).

pre-commit

To use msgcheck with pre-commit, add the following to your .pre-commit-config.yaml:

- repo: https://github.com/flashcode/msgcheck
  rev: v4.2.0  # Use the latest tag or a specific commit hash
  hooks:
    - id: msgcheck
      args: []  # add optional arguments like '--fuzzy', see above

Example

$ msgcheck fr.po
======================================================================
/path/to/fr.po:242: [punct] end punctuation: ":" in translation, ":" not in string:
---
error
---
erreur:
======================================================================
/path/to/fr.po:262: [lines] number of lines: 1 in string, 2 in translation:
---
Message filters:
---
Filtres de
messages:
======================================================================
/path/to/fr.po:336: [whitespace] spaces at beginning: 0 in string, 1 in translation:
---
current value
---
 valeur courante
======================================================================
/path/to/fr.po: 3 errors (almost good!)

Copyright

Copyright © 2009-2025 Sébastien Helleu

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.