#include <nl_types.h>
 #include <locale.h>
 #include <stdarg.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <unixio.h>

  /* This test makes use of all the message catalog routines. catopen  */
  /* opens the catalog ready for reading, then each of the three       */
  /* messages in the catalog are extracted in turn using catgets and   */
  /* printed out. catclose closes the catalog after use.               */
  /* The catalog source file used to create the catalog is as follows: */
  /* $ This is a message file
  * $
  * $quote "
  * $ another comment line
  * $set 1
  * 1 "First set, first message"
  * 2 "second message - This long message uses a backslash \
  * for continuation."
  * $set 2
  * 1 "Second set, first message"                                      */

 char *default_msg = "this is the first message.";

 main()
 {
   nl_catd catalog;
   int msg1,
       msg2,
       retval;

   char *cat = "sys$disk:[]catgets_example.cat"; /*Force local catalog*/

   char *msgtxt;

   char string[128];

   /* Create the message test catalog */

   system("gencat catgets_example.msgx catgets_example.cat") ;

   if ((catalog = catopen(cat, 0)) == (nl_catd) - 1) {
       perror("catopen");
       exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
   }

   msgtxt = catgets(catalog, 1, 1, default_msg);
   printf("%s\n", msgtxt);

   msgtxt = catgets(catalog, 1, 2, default_msg);
   printf("%s\n", msgtxt);

   msgtxt = catgets(catalog, 2, 1, default_msg);
   printf("%s\n", msgtxt);

   if ((retval = catclose(catalog)) == -1) {
       perror("catclose");
       exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
   }

   delete("catgets_example.cat;") ;  /* Remove the test catalog */
 }

      Running the example program produces the following result:

        First set, first message
        second message - This long message uses a backslash for
                                                  continuation.
        Second set, first message