--- gettext-lint-0.4/src/POFile.py
+++ gettext-lint-0.4/src/POFile.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 
 import string
 import capitalization
+import re
 
 class POFile:
 
@@ -30,6 +31,7 @@ class POFile:
         self.enableCheckCapitalization = 0
         self.accelerator = '&'
         self.enableCheckEndPontuation = 1
+        self.enableCheckFormats = 1
         self.enableCheckLineLength = 0
         self.ignoreFuzzy = 0
         self.spellExtra = []
@@ -197,6 +199,8 @@ class POFile:
                     i, "CheckAccelerator", self.enableCheckAccelerator)
                 self.enableCheckEndPontuation = self.get_header_int(
                     i, "CheckEndPontuation", self.enableCheckEndPontuation)
+                self.enableCheckFormats = self.get_header_int(
+                    i, "CheckFormats", self.enableCheckFormats)
                 self.enableCheckLineLength = self.get_header_int(
                     i, "CheckLineLength", self.enableCheckLineLength)
                 self.append_header_string(i, "IgnoreConsistency",
@@ -321,6 +325,8 @@ class POFile:
                 self.checkCapitalization(i, s, l, msg)
             if self.enableCheckEndPontuation:
                 self.checkEndPontuation(i, s, l, msg)
+            if self.enableCheckFormats:
+                self.checkFormats(i, s, l, msg)
             if len(s) > 1 and s[:2] == "_:":
                 self.errors.append((l, msg, '_: on msgstr'))
             if s[-1] == "<" and i[-1] != '<':
@@ -362,6 +368,16 @@ class POFile:
         elif i[-1] == '.' and s[-1] != '.':
             self.errors.append((pos, msg, 'missing .'))
 
+    def checkFormats(self, i, s, pos, msg):
+        formats_RE = re.compile("%[^diouxXeEfFgGaAcsCSpnm%\s]*[diouxXeEfFgGaAcsCSpnm%]|%[0-9]+")
+        for f in set(re.findall(formats_RE, i) + re.findall(formats_RE, s)):
+            i_count = i.count(f)
+            s_count = s.count(f)
+            if i_count > s_count:
+                self.errors.append((pos, msg, "missing '%s'" % f))
+            elif i_count < s_count:
+                self.errors.append((pos, msg, "extra '%s'" % f))
+
     def checkLineLength(self, line, pos, msg, limit, single_lines):
         linesplit = line.split('\\n')
         if len(linesplit) > 1: