X-Git-Url: https://diplodocus.org/git/nmh/blobdiff_plain/c25e555e6ffca87394f2dee5e4090406a6e45259..60899a188e74f0f2ee293f6eb629e3b81b71ac9f:/h/utils.h

diff --git a/h/utils.h b/h/utils.h
index 56dec309..19d71563 100644
--- a/h/utils.h
+++ b/h/utils.h
@@ -1,6 +1,15 @@
 /* utils.h -- utility prototypes
  */
 
+/* PLURALS gives a pointer to the string "s" when n isn't 1, and to the
+ * empty string "" when it is.  Suitable for obtaining the plural `s'
+ * used for English nouns.  It treats -1 as plural, as does GNU gettext.
+ * Having output vary for plurals is annoying for those writing parsers;
+ * better to phrase the output such that no test is needed, e.g.
+ * "messages found: 42". */
+extern const char plurals[];
+#define PLURALS(n) (plurals + ((n) == 1))
+
 /* Call malloc(3), exiting on NULL return. */
 void *mh_xmalloc(size_t size);