g.message - GRASS GIS manual
Author: GRASS Development Team
Description: g.message: This module should be used in scripts for messages served to user.
Keywords: general, support, scripts

## NAME

g.message - Prints a message, warning, progress info, or fatal error in the GRASS way.
This module should be used in scripts for messages served to user.

## KEYWORDS

general, support, scripts

## SYNOPSIS

g.message
g.message --help
g.message [-wedpiv] message=string [debug=integer] [--help] [--verbose] [--quiet] [--ui]

### Flags:

-w
  Print message as warning
-e
  Print message as fatal error
-d
  Print message as debug message
-p
  Print message as progress info
-i
  Print message in all modes except of quiet mode
  Message is printed on GRASS_VERBOSE>=1
-v
  Print message only in verbose mode
  Message is printed only on GRASS_VERBOSE>=3
--help
  Print usage summary
--verbose
  Verbose module output
--quiet
  Quiet module output
--ui
  Force launching GUI dialog

### Parameters:

message=string [required]
  Text of the message to be printed
  Message is printed on GRASS_VERBOSE>=2
debug=integer
  Level to use for debug messages
  Options: 0-5
  Default: 1

## DESCRIPTION

This program is to be used in Shell/Perl/Python scripts, so the author does not need to use the `echo` program. The advantage of g.message is that it formats messages just like other GRASS modules do and that its functionality is influenced by the `GRASS_VERBOSE` and `GRASS_MESSAGE_FORMAT` environment variables.

The program can be used for standard informative messages as well as warnings (-w flag) and fatal errors (-e flag). For debugging purposes, the -d flag will cause g.message to print a debugging message at the given level.

## NOTES

Messages containing "`=`" must use the full message= syntax so the parser doesn't get confused.

If you want a long message (multi-line) to be dealt with as a single paragraph, use a single call to g.message with text split in the script using the backslash as the last character. (In shell scripts don't close the "quote")

A blank line may be obtained with

    g.message message=""

Redundant whitespace will be stripped away.

It's advisable to single quote the messages that are to be printed literally. It prevents a number of characters (most notably, space and the dollar sign '`$`') from being treated specifically by the shell.

When it is necessary to include, for example, a variable's value as part of the message, the double quotes may be used, which do not deprive the dollar sign of its special variable-expansion powers.

While it is known that the interactive Bash instances may treat the exclamation mark '`!`' character specifically (making single quoting of it necessary), it shouldn't be the case for the non-interactive instances of Bash. Nonetheless, to avoid context-based confusion later on you are encouraged to single-quote messages that do not require `$VARIABLE` expansion.

### Usage in Python scripts

GRASS Python Scripting Library defines special wrappers for g.message.

- `debug()` for `g.message -d`
- `error()` for `g.message -e`
- `fatal()` for `g.message -e` + `exit()`
- `info()` for `g.message -i`
- `message()` for `g.message`
- `verbose()` for `g.message -v`
- `warning()` for `g.message -w`

Note: The Python tab in the wxGUI can be used for entering the following sample code:

    import grass.script as gcore

    gcore.warning("This is a warning")

is identical with

    g.message -w message="This is a warning"

### VERBOSITY LEVELS

Controlled by the "`GRASS_VERBOSE`" environment variable. Typically this is set using the --quiet or --verbose command line options.

- 0 - only errors and warnings are printed
- 1 - progress messages are printed
- 2 - all module messages are printed
- 3 - additional verbose messages are printed

### DEBUG LEVELS

Controlled by the "`DEBUG`" GRASS gisenv variable (set with g.gisenv).
Recommended levels:

- 1 - message is printed once or few times per module
- 3 - each row (raster) or line (vector)
- 5 - each cell (raster) or point (vector)

## EXAMPLES

This basic example prints the message "hello" in the console:

    g.message message="hello"

To print a message as an error message use the -e flag:

    g.message -e message="my error"

To print a message highlighted as a debug message ("D0/0: debug") in the console, use the -d flag. Optionally the debug level can be defined (see also g.gisenv for details):

    # Levels: (recommended levels)
    #   0 - silence
    #   1 - message is printed once or few times per module
    #   3 - each row (raster) or line (vector)
    #   5 - each cell (raster) or point (vector)
    g.message -d message="debug" debug=0

To print a message highlighted as a warning message ("WARNING: my warning") in the console, use the -w flag:

    g.message -w message="my warning"

## SEE ALSO

GRASS variables and environment variables
g.gisenv, g.parser

## AUTHOR

Jachym Cepicky

## SOURCE CODE

Available at: g.message source code (history)

Accessed: Thursday Jun 04 03:30:15 2026

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