locale(5)
NAME
locale - subset of a user's environment that depends on
language and cultural conventions
DESCRIPTION
A locale is the definition of the subset of a user's
environment that depends on language and cultural conven-
tions. It is made up from one or more categories. Each
category is identified by its name and controls specific
aspects of the behavior of components of the system.
Category names correspond to the following environment vari-
able names:
LC_CTYPE
Character classification and case conversion.
LC_COLLATE
Collation order.
LC_TIME
Date and time formats.
LC_NUMERIC
Numeric formatting.
LC_MONETARY
Monetary formatting.
LC_MESSAGES
Formats of informative and diagnostic messages and
interactive responses.
The standard utilities base their behavior on the current
locale, as defined in the ENVIRONMENT section for each util-
ity. The behavior of some of the C-language functions will
also be modified based on the current locale, as defined by
the last call to setlocale(3C).
Locales other than those supplied by the implementation can
be created by the application via the localedef(1) utility.
The value that is used to specify a locale when using
environment variables will be the string specified as the
name operand to localedef when the locale was created. The
strings "C" and "POSIX" are reserved as identifiers for the
POSIX locale.
Applications can select the desired locale by invoking the
setlocale() function with the appropriate value. If the
function is invoked with an empty string, such as:
setlocale(LC_ALL, "");
the value of the corresponding environment variable is used.
If the environment variable is unset or is set to the empty
string, the setlocale() function sets the appropriate
environment.
Locale Definition
Locales can be described with the file format accepted by
the localedef utility.
The locale definition file must contain one or more locale
category source definitions, and must not contain more than
one definition for the same locale category.
A category source definition consists of a category header,
a category body and a category trailer. A category header
consists of the character string naming of the category,
beginning with the characters LC_. The category trailer
consists of the string END, followed by one or more blank
characters and the string used in the corresponding category
header.
The category body consists of one or more lines of text.
Each line contains an identifier, optionally followed by one
or more operands. Identifiers are either keywords, identify-
ing a particular locale element, or collating elements. Each
keyword within a locale must have a unique name (that is,
two categories cannot have a commonly-named keyword); no
keyword can start with the characters LC_. Identifiers must
be separated from the operands by one or more blank charac-
ters.
Operands must be characters, collating elements or strings
of characters. Strings must be enclosed in double-quotes.
Literal double-quotes within strings must be preceded by the
<escape character>, described below. When a keyword is fol-
lowed by more than one operand, the operands must be
separated by semicolons; blank characters are allowed both
before and after a semicolon.
The first category header in the file can be preceded by a
line modifying the comment character. It has the following
format, starting in column 1:
"comment_char %c\n",<comment character>
The comment character defaults to the number sign (#). Blank
lines and lines containing the <comment character> in the
first position are ignored.
The first category header in the file can be preceded by a
line modifying the escape character to be used in the file.
It has the following format, starting in column 1:
"escape_char %c\n",<escape character>
The escape character defaults to backslash.
A line can be continued by placing an escape character as
the last character on the line; this continuation character
will be discarded from the input. Although the implementa-
tion need not accept any one portion of a continued line
with a length exceeding {LINE_MAX} bytes, it places no lim-
its on the accumulated length of the continued line. Comment
lines cannot be continued on a subsequent line using an
escaped newline character.
Individual characters, characters in strings, and collating
elements must be represented using symbolic names, as
defined below. In addition, characters can be represented
using the characters themselves or as octal, hexadecimal or
decimal constants. When non-symbolic notation is used, the
resultant locale definitions will in many cases not be port-
able between systems. The left angle bracket (<) is a
reserved symbol, denoting the start of a symbolic name; when
used to represent itself it must be preceded by the escape
character. The following rules apply to character represen-
tation:
1. A character can be represented via a symbolic name,
enclosed within angle brackets < and >. The symbolic
name, including the angle brackets, must exactly match a
symbolic name defined in the charmap file specified via
the localedef -f option, and will be replaced by a char-
acter value determined from the value associated with the
symbolic name in the charmap file. The use of a symbolic
name not found in the charmap file constitutes an error,
unless the category is LC_CTYPE or LC_COLLATE, in which
case it constitutes a warning condition (see localedef(1)
for a description of action resulting from errors and
warnings). The specification of a symbolic name in a
collating-element or collating-symbol section that dupli-
cates a symbolic name in the charmap file (if present) is
an error. Use of the escape character or a right angle
bracket within a symbolic name is invalid unless the
character is preceded by the escape character.
Example:
<c>;<c-cedilla> "<M><a><y>"
2. A character can be represented by the character itself,
in which case the value of the character is
implementation-dependent. Within a string, the double-
quote character, the escape character and the right angle
bracket character must be escaped (preceded by the escape
character) to be interpreted as the character itself.
Outside strings, the characters
, ; < > escape_char
must be escaped to be interpreted as the character itself.
For example:
c beta-char "May"
3. A character can be represented as an octal constant. An
octal constant is specified as the escape character fol-
lowed by two or more octal digits. Each constant
represents a byte value. Multi-byte values can be
represented by concatenated constants specified in byte
order with the last constant specifying the least signi-
ficant byte of the character.
For example:
\143;\347;\143\150 "\115\141\171"
4. A character can be represented as a hexadecimal constant.
A hexadecimal constant is specified as the escape charac-
ter followed by an x followed by two or more hexadecimal
digits. Each constant represents a byte value. Multi-byte
values can be represented by concatenated constants
specified in byte order with the last constant specifying
the least significant byte of the character.
For example:
\x63;\xe7;\x63\x68 "\x4d\x61\x79"
5. A character can be represented as a decimal constant. A
decimal constant is specified as the escape character
followed by a d followed by two or more decimal digits.
Each constant represents a byte value. Multi-byte values
can be represented by concatenated constants specified in
byte order with the last constant specifying the least
significant byte of the character.
For example:
\d99;\d231;\d99\d104 "\d77\d97\d121"
Only characters existing in the character set for which the
locale definition is created can be specified, whether using
symbolic names, the characters themselves, or octal, decimal
or hexadecimal constants. If a charmap file is present, only
characters defined in the charmap can be specified using
octal, decimal or hexadecimal constants. Symbolic names not
present in the charmap file can be specified and will be
ignored, as specified under item 1 above.
LC_CTYPE
The LC_CTYPE category defines character classification,
case conversion and other character attributes. In addi-
tion, a series of characters can be represented by three
adjacent periods representing an ellipsis symbol (...). The
ellipsis specification is interpreted as meaning that all
values between the values preceding and following it
represent valid characters. The ellipsis specification is
valid only within a single encoded character set; that is,
within a group of characters of the same size. An ellipsis
is interpreted as including in the list all characters with
an encoded value higher than the encoded value of the char-
acter preceding the ellipsis and lower than the encoded
value of the character following the ellipsis.
For example:
\x30;...;\x39;
includes in the character class all characters with encoded
values between the endpoints.
The following keywords are recognized. In the descriptions,
the term ``automatically included'' means that it is not an
error either to include or omit any of the referenced char-
acters.
The character classes digit, xdigit, lower, upper, and space
have a set of automatically included characters. These only
need to be specified if the character values (that is,
encoding) differ from the implementation default values.
cswidth
Moved to extensions file (see extensions(5)).
upper Define characters to be classified as upper-case
letters.
In the POSIX locale, the 26 upper-case letters are
included:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
In a locale definition file, no character specified for
the keywords cntrl, digit, punct, or space can be
specified. The upper-case letters A to Z are automati-
cally included in this class.
lower Define characters to be classified as lower-case
letters. In the POSIX locale, the 26 lower-case
letters are included:
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
In a locale definition file, no character specified for
the keywords cntrl, digit, punct, or space can be
specified. The lower-case letters a to z of the port-
able character set are automatically included in this
class.
alpha Define characters to be classified as letters.
In the POSIX locale, all characters in the classes
upper and lower are included.
In a locale definition file, no character specified
for the keywords cntrl, digit, punct, or space can be
specified. Characters classified as either upper or
lower are automatically included in this class.
digit Define the characters to be classified as numeric
digits.
In the POSIX locale, only
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
are included.
In a locale definition file, only the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 can be specified, and in contiguous
ascending sequence by numerical value. The digits 0 to 9 of
the portable character set are automatically included in
this class.
The definition of character class digit requires that
only ten characters; the ones defining digits can be
specified; alternative digits (for example, Hindi or
Kanji) cannot be specified here.
space Define characters to be classified as white-space
characters.
In the POSIX locale, at a minimum, the characters
SPACE, FORMFEED, NEWLINE, CARRIAGE RETURN, TAB, and
VERTICAL TAB are included.
In a locale definition file, no character specified
for the keywords upper, lower, alpha, digit, graph, or
xdigit can be specified. The characters SPACE,
FORMFEED, NEWLINE, CARRIAGE RETURN, TAB, and VERTICAL
TAB of the portable character set, and any characters
included in the class blank are automatically included
in this class.
cntrl Define characters to be classified as control charac-
ters.
In the POSIX locale, no characters in classes alpha or
print are included.
In a locale definition file, no character specified
for the keywords upper, lower, alpha, digit, punct,
graph, print, or xdigit can be specified.
punct Define characters to be classified as punctuation
characters.
In the POSIX locale, neither the space character nor
any characters in classes alpha, digit, or cntrl are
included.
In a locale definition file, no character specified
for the keywords upper, lower, alpha, digit, cntrl,
xdigit or as the space character can be specified.
graph Define characters to be classified as printable char-
acters, not including the space character.
In the POSIX locale, all characters in classes alpha,
digit, and punct are included; no characters in class
cntrl are included.
In a locale definition file, characters specified for
the keywords upper, lower, alpha, digit, xdigit, and
punct are automatically included in this class. No
character specified for the keyword cntrl can be
specified.
print Define characters to be classified as printable char-
acters, including the space character.
In the POSIX locale, all characters in class graph are
included; no characters in class cntrl are included.
In a locale definition file, characters specified for
the keywords upper, lower, alpha, digit, xdigit,
punct, and the space character are automatically
included in this class. No character specified for the
keyword cntrl can be specified.
xdigit
Define the characters to be classified as hexadecimal
digits.
In the POSIX locale, only:
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F a b c d e f
are included.
In a locale definition file, only the characters defined for
the class digit can be specified, in contiguous ascending
sequence by numerical value, followed by one or more sets of
six characters representing the hexadecimal digits 10 to 15
inclusive, with each set in ascending order (for example A,
B, C, D, E, F, a, b, c, d, e, f). The digits 0 to 9, the
upper-case letters A to F and the lower-case letters a to f
of the portable character set are automatically included in
this class.
The definition of character class xdigit requires that
the characters included in character class digit be
included here also.
blank Define characters to be classified as blank charac-
ters.
In the POSIX locale, only the space and tab characters
are included.
In a locale definition file, the characters space and
tab are automatically included in this class.
charclass
Define one or more locale-specific character class
names as strings separated by semi-colons. Each named
character class can then be defined subsequently in
the LC_CTYPE definition. A character class name con-
sists of at least one and at most {CHARCLASS_NAME_MAX}
bytes of alphanumeric characters from the portable
filename character set. The first character of a char-
acter class name cannot be a digit. The name cannot
match any of the LC_CTYPE keywords defined in this
document.
charclass-name
Define characters to be classified as belonging to the
named locale-specific character class. In the POSIX
locale, the locale-specific named character classes
need not exist. If a class name is defined by a char-
class keyword, but no characters are subsequently
assigned to it, this is not an error; it represents a
class without any characters belonging to it. The
charclass-name can be used as the property argument to
the wctype(3C) function, in regular expression and
shell pattern-matching bracket expressions, and by the
tr(1) command.
toupper
Define the mapping of lower-case letters to upper-case
letters.
In the POSIX locale, at a minimum, the 26 lower-case
characters:
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
are mapped to the corresponding 26 upper-case characters:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
In a locale definition file, the operand consists of
character pairs, separated by semicolons. The charac-
ters in each character pair are separated by a comma
and the pair enclosed by parentheses. The first charac-
ter in each pair is the lower-case letter, the second
the corresponding upper-case letter. Only characters
specified for the keywords lower and upper can be
specified. The lower-case letters a to z, and their
corresponding upper-case letters A to Z, of the port-
able character set are automatically included in this
mapping, but only when the toupper keyword is omitted
from the locale definition.
tolower
Define the mapping of upper-case letters to lower-case
letters.
In the POSIX locale, at a minimum, the 26 upper-case
characters:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
are mapped to the corresponding 26 lower-case characters:
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
In a locale definition file, the operand consists of
character pairs, separated by semicolons. The charac-
ters in each character pair are separated by a comma
and the pair enclosed by parentheses. The first charac-
ter in each pair is the upper-case letter, the second
the corresponding lower-case letter. Only characters
specified for the keywords lower and upper can be
specified. If the tolower keyword is omitted from the
locale definition, the mapping will be the reverse map-
ping of the one specified for toupper.
LC_COLLATE
The LC_COLLATE category provides a collation sequence
definition for numerous utilities (such as sort(1), uniq(1),
and so forth), regular expression matching (see regex(5)),
and the strcoll(3C), strxfrm(3C), wcscoll(3C), and
wcsxfrm(3C) functions.
A collation sequence definition defines the relative order
between collating elements (characters and multi-character
collating elements) in the locale. This order is expressed
in terms of collation values; that is, by assigning each
element one or more collation values (also known as colla-
tion weights). At least the following capabilities are pro-
vided:
1. Multi-character collating elements. Specification of
multi-character collating elements (that is, sequences of
two or more characters to be collated as an entity).
2. User-defined ordering of collating elements. Each collat-
ing element is assigned a collation value defining its
order in the character (or basic) collation sequence.
This ordering is used by regular expressions and pattern
matching and, unless collation weights are explicity
specified, also as the collation weight to be used in
sorting.
3. Multiple weights and equivalence classes. Collating ele-
ments can be assigned one or more (up to the limit
{COLL_WEIGHTS_MAX} ) collating weights for use in sort-
ing. The first weight is hereafter referred to as the
primary weight.
4. One-to-Many mapping. A single character is mapped into a
string of collating elements.
5. Equivalence class definition. Two or more collating ele-
ments have the same collation value (primary weight).
6. Ordering by weights. When two strings are compared to
determine their relative order, the two strings are first
broken up into a series of collating elements; the ele-
ments in each successive pair of elements are then com-
pared according to the relative primary weights for the
elements. If equal, and more than one weight has been
assigned, then the pairs of collating elements are recom-
pared according to the relative subsequent weights, until
either a pair of collating elements compare unequal or
the weights are exhausted. The following keywords are
recognized in a collation sequence definition. They are
described in detail in the following sections.
7. Define a collating-element symbol representing a multi-
character collating element. This keyword is optional.
8. Define a collating symbol for use in collation order
statements. This keyword is optional.
9. Define collation rules. This statement is followed by one
or more collation order statements, assigning character
collation values and collation weights to collating ele-
ments.
10.
Specify the end of the collation-order statements.
collating-element keyword
In addition to the collating elements in the character set,
the collating-element keyword is used to define multi-
character collating elements. The syntax is:
"collating-element %s from \"%s\"\n",<collating-symbol>,<string>
The <collating-symbol> operand is a symbolic name, enclosed
between angle brackets (< and >), and must not duplicate any
symbolic name in the current charmap file (if any), or any
other symbolic name defined in this collation definition.
The string operand is a string of two or more characters
that collates as an entity. A <collating-element> defined
via this keyword is only recognized with the LC_COLLATE
category.
For example:
collating-element <ch> from "<c><h>"
collating-element <e-acute> from "<acute><e>"
collating-element <ll> from "ll"
collating-symbol keyword
This keyword will be used to define symbols for use in col-
lation sequence statements; that is, between the order_start
and the order_end keywords. The syntax is:
"collating-symbol %s\n",<collating-symbol>
The <collating-symbol> is a symbolic name, enclosed between
angle brackets (< and >), and must not duplicate any sym-
bolic name in the current charmap file (if any), or any
other symbolic name defined in this collation definition.
A collating-symbol defined via this keyword is only recog-
nized with the LC_COLLATE category.
For example:
collating-symbol <UPPER_CASE>
collating-symbol <HIGH>
The collating-symbol keyword defines a symbolic name that
can be associated with a relative position in the character
order sequence. While such a symbolic name does not
represent any collating element, it can be used as a weight.
order_start keyword
The order_start keyword must precede collation order entries
and also defines the number of weights for this collation
sequence definition and other collation rules.
The syntax of the order_start keyword is:
"order_start %s;%s;...;%s\n",<sort-rules>,<sort-rules>
The operands to the order_start keyword are optional. If
present, the operands define rules to be applied when
strings are compared. The number of operands define how many
weights each element is assigned; if no operands are
present, one forward operand is assumed. If present, the
first operand defines rules to be applied when comparing
strings using the first (primary) weight; the second when
comparing strings using the second weight, and so on.
Operands are separated by semicolons (;). Each operand con-
sists of one or more collation directives, separated by com-
mas (,). If the number of operands exceeds the
{COLL_WEIGHTS_MAX} limit, the utility will issue a warning
message. The following directives will be supported:
forward
Specifies that comparison operations for the weight
level proceed from start of string towards the end of
string.
backward
Specifies that comparison operations for the weight
level proceed from end of string towards the beginning
of string.
position
Specifies that comparison operations for the weight
level will consider the relative position of elements
in the strings not subject to IGNORE. The string con-
taining an element not subject to IGNORE after the
fewest collating elements subject to IGNORE from the
start of the compare will collate first. If both
strings contain a character not subject to IGNORE in
the same relative position, the collating values
assigned to the elements will determine the ordering.
In case of equality, subsequent characters not subject
to IGNORE are considered in the same manner.
The directives forward and backward are mutually exclusive.
For example:
order_start forward;backward
If no operands are specified, a single forward operand is
assumed. The character (and collating element) order is
defined by the order in which characters and elements are
specified between the order_start and order_end keywords.
This character order is used in range expressions in regular
expressions (see regex(5)). Weights assigned to the charac-
ters and elements define the collation sequence; in the
absence of weights, the character order is also the colla-
tion sequence. The position keyword provides the capability
to consider, in a compare, the relative position of charac-
ters not subject to IGNORE. As an example, consider the two
strings ``o-ring'' and ``or-ing''. Assuming the hyphen is
subject to IGNORE on the first pass, the two strings will
compare equal, and the position of the hyphen is immaterial.
On second pass, all characters except the hyphen are subject
to IGNORE, and in the normal case the two strings would
again compare equal. By taking position into account, the
first collates before the second.
Collation Order
The order_start keyword is followed by collating identifier
entries. The syntax for the collating element entries is
"%s %s;%s;...;%s\n"<collating-identifier>,<weight>,<weight>,...
Each collating-identifier consists of either a character
described in Locale Definition above, a <collating-
element>, a <collating-symbol>, an ellipsis, or the special
symbol UNDEFINED. The order in which collating elements are
specified determines the character order sequence, such that
each collating element compares less than the elements fol-
lowing it. The NUL character compares lower than any other
character.
A <collating-element> is used to specify multi-character
collating elements, and indicates that the character
sequence specified via the <collating-element> is to be col-
lated as a unit and in the relative order specified by its
place.
A <collating-symbol> is used to define a position in the
relative order for use in weights. No weights are specified
with a <collating-symbol>.
The ellipsis symbol specifies that a sequence of characters
will collate according to their encoded character values. It
is interpreted as indicating that all characters with a
coded character set value higher than the value of the char-
acter in the preceding line, and lower than the coded char-
acter set value for the character in the following line, in
the current coded character set, will be placed in the char-
acter collation order between the previous and the following
character in ascending order according to their coded char-
acter set values. An initial ellipsis is interpreted as if
the preceding line specified the NUL character, and a trail-
ing ellipsis as if the following line specified the highest
coded character set value in the current coded character
set. An ellipsis is treated as invalid if the preceding or
following lines do not specify characters in the current
coded character set.
The symbol UNDEFINED is interpreted as including all coded
character set values not specified explicitly or via the
ellipsis symbol. Such characters are inserted in the charac-
ter collation order at the point indicated by the symbol,
and in ascending order according to their coded character
set values. If no UNDEFINED symbol is specified, and the
current coded character set contains characters not speci-
fied in this section, the utility will issue a warning mes-
sage and place such characters at the end of the character
collation order.
The optional operands for each collation-element are used to
define the primary, secondary, or subsequent weights for the
collating element. The first operand specifies the relative
primary weight, the second the relative secondary weight,
and so on. Two or more collation-elements can be assigned
the same weight; they belong to the same equivalence class
if they have the same primary weight. Collation behaves as
if, for each weight level, elements subject to IGNORE are
removed, unless the position collation directive is speci-
fied for the corresponding level with the order_start key-
word. Then each successive pair of elements is compared
according to the relative weights for the elements. If the
two strings compare equal, the process is repeated for the
next weight level, up to the limit {COLL_WEIGHTS_MAX}.
Weights are expressed as characters described in Locale
Definition above, <collating-symbol>s, <collating-element>s,
an ellipsis, or the special symbol IGNORE. A single charac-
ter, a <collating-symbol> or a <collating-element> represent
the relative position in the character collating sequence of
the character or symbol, rather than the character or char-
acters themselves. Thus, rather than assigning absolute
values to weights, a particular weight is expressed using
the relative order value assigned to a collating element
based on its order in the character collation sequence.
One-to-many mapping is indicated by specifying two or more
concatenated characters or symbolic names. For example, if
the character <eszet> is given the string "<s><s>" as a
weight, comparisons are performed as if all occurrences of
the character <eszet> are replaced by <s><s> (assuming that
<s> has the collating weight <s>). If it is necessary to
define <eszet> and <s><s> as an equivalence class, then a
collating element must be defined for the string ss.
All characters specified via an ellipsis will by default be
assigned unique weights, equal to the relative order of
characters. Characters specified via an explicit or implicit
UNDEFINED special symbol will by default be assigned the
same primary weight (that is, belong to the same equivalence
class). An ellipsis symbol as a weight is interpreted to
mean that each character in the sequence has unique weights,
equal to the relative order of their character in the char-
acter collation sequence. The use of the ellipsis as a
weight is treated as an error if the collating element is
neither an ellipsis nor the special symbol UNDEFINED.
The special keyword IGNORE as a weight indicates that when
strings are compared using the weights at the level where
IGNORE is specified, the collating element is ignored; that
is, as if the string did not contain the collating element.
In regular expressions and pattern matching, all characters
that are subject to IGNORE in their primary weight form an
equivalence class.
An empty operand is interpreted as the collating element
itself.
For example, the order statement:
<a> <a>;<a>
is equal to:
<a>
An ellipsis can be used as an operand if the collating ele-
ment was an ellipsis, and is interpreted as the value of
each character defined by the ellipsis.
The collation order as defined in this section defines the
interpretation of bracket expressions in regular expres-
sions.
For example:
order_start forward;backward
UNDEFINED IGNORE;IGNORE
<LOW>
<space> <LOW>;<space>
... <LOW>;...
<a> <a>;<a>
<a-acute> <a>;<a-acute>
<a-grave> <a>;<a-grave>
<A> <a>;<A>
<A-acute> <a>;<A-acute>
<A-grave> <a>;<A-grave>
<ch> <ch>;<ch>
<Ch> <ch>;<Ch>
<s> <s>;<s>
<eszet> "<s><s>";"<eszet><eszet>"
order_end
This example is interpreted as follows:
1. The UNDEFINED means that all characters not specified in
this definition (explicitly or via the ellipsis) are
ignored for collation purposes; for regular expression
purposes they are ordered first.
2. All characters between <space> and <a> have the same pri-
mary equivalence class and individual secondary weights
based on their ordinal encoded values.
3. All characters based on the upper- or lower-case charac-
ter a belong to the same primary equivalence class.
4. The multi-character collating element <ch> is represented
by the collating symbol <ch> and belongs to the same pri-
mary equivalence class as the multi-character collating
element <Ch>.
order_end keyword
The collating order entries must be terminated with an
order_end keyword.
LC_MONETARY
The LC_MONETARY category defines the rules and symbols that
are used to format monetary numeric information. This
information is available through the localeconv(3C) function
The following items are defined in this category of the
locale. The item names are the keywords recognized by the
localedef(1) utility when defining a locale. They are also
similar to the member names of the lconv structure defined
in <locale.h>. The localeconv function returns {CHAR_MAX}
for unspecified integer items and the empty string ("") for
unspecified or size zero string items.
In a locale definition file the operands are strings. For
some keywords, the strings can contain only integers. Key-
words that are not provided, string values set to the empty
string (""), or integer keywords set to -1, are used to
indicate that the value is not available in the locale.
int_curr_symbol
The international currency symbol. The operand is a
four-character string, with the first three characters
containing the alphabetic international currency sym-
bol in accordance with those specified in the ISO
4217:1987 standard. The fourth character is the char-
acter used to separate the international currency sym-
bol from the monetary quantity.
currency_symbol
The string used as the local currency symbol.
mon_decimal_point
The operand is a string containing the symbol that is
used as the decimal delimiter (radix character) in
monetary formatted quantities. In contexts where stan-
dards (such as the ISO C standard) limit the
mon_decimal_point to a single byte, the result of
specifying a multi-byte operand is unspecified.
mon_thousands_sep
The operand is a string containing the symbol that is
used as a separator for groups of digits to the left
of the decimal delimiter in formatted monetary
quantities. In contexts where standards limit the
mon_thousands_sep to a single byte, the result of
specifying a multi-byte operand is unspecified.
mon_grouping
Define the size of each group of digits in formatted
monetary quantities. The operand is a sequence of
integers separated by semicolons. Each integer speci-
fies the number of digits in each group, with the ini-
tial integer defining the size of the group immedi-
ately preceding the decimal delimiter, and the follow-
ing integers defining the preceding groups. If the
last integer is not -1, then the size of the previous
group (if any) will be repeatedly used for the
remainder of the digits. If the last integer is -1,
then no further grouping will be performed.
The following is an example of the interpretation of
the mon_grouping keyword. Assuming that the value to
be formatted is 123456789 and the mon_thousands_sep is
', then the following table shows the result. The
third column shows the equivalent string in the ISO C
standard that would be used by the localeconv function
to accommodate this grouping.
_______________________________________________________________
| mon_grouping Formatted Value ISO C String |
| 3;-1 123456'789 "\3\177" |
| 3 123'456'789 "\3" |
| 3;2;-1 1234'56'789 "\3\2\177" |
| 3;2 12'34'56'789 "\3\2" |
| -1 123456789 "\177" |
|______________________________________________________________|
In these examples, the octal value of {CHAR_MAX} is
177.
positive_sign
A string used to indicate a non-negative-valued for-
matted monetary quantity.
negative_sign
A string used to indicate a negative-valued formatted
monetary quantity.
int_frac_digits
An integer representing the number of fractional
digits (those to the right of the decimal delimiter)
to be written in a formatted monetary quantity using
int_curr_symbol.
frac_digits
An integer representing the number of fractional
digits (those to the right of the decimal delimiter)
to be written in a formatted monetary quantity using
currency_symbol.
p_cs_precedes
An integer set to 1 if the currency_symbol or
int_curr_symbol precedes the value for a monetary
quantity with a non-negative value, and set to 0 if
the symbol succeeds the value.
p_sep_by_space
An integer set to 0 if no space separates the
currency_symbol or int_curr_symbol from the value for
a monetary quantity with a non-negative value, set to
1 if a space separates the symbol from the value, and
set to 2 if a space separates the symbol and the sign
string, if adjacent.
n_cs_precedes
An integer set to 1 if the currency_symbol or
int_curr_symbol precedes the value for a monetary
quantity with a negative value, and set to 0 if the
symbol succeeds the value.
n_sep_by_space
An integer set to 0 if no space separates the
currency_symbol or int_curr_symbol from the value for
a monetary quantity with a negative value, set to 1 if
a space separates the symbol from the value, and set
to 2 if a space separates the symbol and the sign
string, if adjacent.
p_sign_posn
An integer set to a value indicating the positioning
of the positive_sign for a monetary quantity with a
non-negative value. The following integer values are
recognized for both p_sign_posn and n_sign_posn:
0 Parentheses enclose the quantity and the
currency_symbol or int_curr_symbol.
1 The sign string precedes the quantity and the
currency_symbol or int_curr_symbol.
2 The sign string succeeds the quantity and the
currency_symbol or int_curr_symbol.
3 The sign string precedes the currency_symbol or
int_curr_symbol.
4 The sign string succeeds the currency_symbol or
int_curr_symbol.
n_sign_posn
An integer set to a value indicating the positioning
of the negative_sign for a negative formatted monetary
quantity.
The following table shows the result of various combina-
tions:
p_sep_by_space
2 1 0
p_cs_precedes= 1 p_sign_posn= 0 ($1.25) ($1.25) ($1.25)
p_sign_posn= 1 +$1.25 +$1.25 +$1.25
p_sign_posn= 2 $1.25+ $1.25+ $1.25+
p_sign_posn= 3 +$1.25 +$1.25 +$1.25
p_sign_posn= 4 $+1.25 $+1.25 $+1.25
p_cs_precedes= 0 p_sign_posn= 0 (1.25 $) (1.25 $) (1.25$)
p_sign_posn= 1 +1.25 $ +1.25 $ +1.25$
p_sign_posn= 2 1.25$ + 1.25 $+ 1.25$+
p_sign_posn= 3 1.25+ $ 1.25 +$ 1.25+$
p_sign_posn= 4 1.25$ + 1.25 $+ 1.25$+
The monetary formatting definitions for the POSIX locale
follow; the code listing depicting the localedef(1) input,
the table representing the same information with the addi-
tion of localeconv(3C) and nl_langinfo(3C) formats. All
values are unspecified in the POSIX locale.
LC_MONETARY
# This is the POSIX locale definition for
# the LC_MONETARY category.
#
int_curr_symbol ""
currency_symbol ""
mon_decimal_point ""
mon_thousands_sep ""
mon_grouping -1
positive_sign ""
negative_sign ""
int_frac_digits -1
p_cs_precedes -1
p_sep_by_space -1
n_cs_precedes -1
n_sep_by_space -1
p_sign_posn -1
n_sign_posn -1
# END LC_MONETARY
The entry n/a indicates that the value is not available in
the POSIX locale.
LC_NUMERIC
The LC_NUMERIC category defines the rules and symbols that
will be used to format non-monetary numeric information.
This information is available through the localeconv(3C)
function.
The following items are defined in this category of the
locale. The item names are the keywords recognized by the
localedef utility when defining a locale. They are also
similar to the member names of the lconv structure defined
in <locale.h>. The localeconv() function returns {CHAR_MAX}
for unspecified integer items and the empty string ("") for
unspecified or size zero string items.
In a locale definition file the operands are strings. For
some keywords, the strings only can contain integers. Key-
words that are not provided, string values set to the empty
string (""), or integer keywords set to -1, will be used to
indicate that the value is not available in the locale. The
following keywords are recognized:
decimal_point
The operand is a string containing the symbol that is
used as the decimal delimiter (radix character) in
numeric, non-monetary formatted quantities. This key-
word cannot be omitted and cannot be set to the empty
string. In contexts where standards limit the
decimal_point to a single byte, the result of specify-
ing a multi-byte operand is unspecified.
thousands_sep
The operand is a string containing the symbol that is
used as a separator for groups of digits to the left
of the decimal delimiter in numeric, non-monetary for-
matted monetary quantities. In contexts where stan-
dards limit the thousands_sep to a single byte, the
result of specifying a multi-byte operand is unspeci-
fied.
grouping
Define the size of each group of digits in formatted
non-monetary quantities. The operand is a sequence of
integers separated by semicolons. Each integer speci-
fies the number of digits in each group, with the ini-
tial integer defining the size of the group immedi-
ately preceding the decimal delimiter, and the follow-
ing integers defining the preceding groups. If the
last integer is not -1, then the size of the previous
group (if any) will be repeatedly used for the
remainder of the digits. If the last integer is -1,
then no further grouping will be performed. The non-
monetary numeric formatting definitions for the POSIX
locale follow; the code listing depicting the
localedef input, the table representing the same
information with the addition of localeconv values and
nl_langinfo constants.
LC_NUMERIC
# This is the POSIX locale definition for
# the LC_NUMERIC category.
#
decimal_point "<period>"
thousands_sep ""
grouping -1
#
END LC_NUMERIC
POSIX locale langinfo localeconv() localedef
Item Value Constant Value Value
decimal_point "." RADIXCHAR "." .
thousands_sep n/a THOUSEP "" ""
grouping n/a - "" -1
The entry n/a indicates that the value is not available in
the POSIX locale.
LC_TIME
The LC_TIME category defines the interpretation of the
field descriptors supported by date(1) and affects the
behavior of the strftime(3C), wcsftime(3C), strptime(3C),
and nl_langinfo(3C) functions. Because the interfaces for
C-language access and locale definition differ signifi-
cantly, they are described separately. For locale defini-
tion, the following mandatory keywords are recognized:
abday Define the abbreviated weekday names, corresponding to
the %a field descriptor (conversion specification in
the strftime(), wcsftime(), and strptime() functions).
The operand consists of seven semicolon-separated
strings, each surrounded by double-quotes. The first
string is the abbreviated name of the day correspond-
ing to Sunday, the second the abbreviated name of the
day corresponding to Monday, and so on.
day Define the full weekday names, corresponding to the %A
field descriptor. The operand consists of seven
semicolon-separated strings, each surrounded by
double-quotes. The first string is the full name of
the day corresponding to Sunday, the second the full
name of the day corresponding to Monday, and so on.
abmon Define the abbreviated month names, corresponding to
the %b field descriptor. The operand consists of
twelve semicolon-separated strings, each surrounded by
double-quotes. The first string is the abbreviated
name of the first month of the year (January), the
second the abbreviated name of the second month, and
so on.
mon Define the full month names, corresponding to the %B
field descriptor. The operand consists of twelve
semicolon-separated strings, each surrounded by
double-quotes. The first string is the full name of
the first month of the year (January), the second the
full name of the second month, and so on.
d_t_fmt
Define the appropriate date and time representation,
corresponding to the %c field descriptor. The operand
consists of a string, and can contain any combination
of characters and field descriptors. In addition, the
string can contain the escape sequences \\, \a, \b,
\f, \n, \r, \t, \v.
date_fmt
Define the appropriate date and time representation,
corresponding to the %C field descriptor. The operand
consists of a string, and can contain any combination
of characters and field descriptors. In addition, the
string can contain the escape sequences \\, \a, \b,
\f, \n, \r, \t, \v.
d_fmt Define the appropriate date representation,
corresponding to the %x field descriptor. The operand
consists of a string, and can contain any combination
of characters and field descriptors. In addition, the
string can contain the escape sequences \\, \a, \b,
\f, \n, \r, \t, \v.
t_fmt Define the appropriate time representation,
corresponding to the %X field descriptor. The operand
consists of a string, and can contain any combination
of characters and field descriptors. In addition, the
string can contain the escape sequences \\, \a, \b,
\f, \n, \r, \t, \v.
am_pm Define the appropriate representation of the ante
meridiem and post meridiem strings, corresponding to
the %p field descriptor. The operand consists of two
strings, separated by a semicolon, each surrounded by
double-quotes. The first string represents the ante
meridiem designation, the last string the post meri-
diem designation.
t_fmt_ampm
Define the appropriate time representation in the 12-
hour clock format with am_pm, corresponding to the %r
field descriptor. The operand consists of a string and
can contain any combination of characters and field
descriptors. If the string is empty, the 12-hour for-
mat is not supported in the locale.
era Define how years are counted and displayed for each
era in a locale. The operand consists of semicolon-
separated strings. Each string is an era description
segment with the format:
direction:offset:start_date:end_date:era_name:era_format
according to the definitions below. There can be as
many era description segments as are necessary to
describe the different eras.
The start of an era might not be the earliest point
For example, the Christian era B.C. starts on the day
before January 1, A.D. 1, and increases with earlier
time.
direction
Either a + or a - character. The + character
indicates that years closer to the start_date
have lower numbers than those closer to the
end_date. The - character indicates that years
closer to the start_date have higher numbers
than those closer to the end_date.
offset
The number of the year closest to the start_date
in the era, corresponding to the %Eg and %Ey
field descriptors.
start_date
A date in the form yyyy/mm/dd, where yyyy, mm,
and dd are the year, month and day numbers
respectively of the start of the era. Years
prior to A.D. 1 are represented as negative
numbers.
end_date
The ending date of the era, in the same format
as the start_date, or one of the two special
values -* or +*. The value -* indicates that the
ending date is the beginning of time. The value
+* indicates that the ending date is the end of
time.
era_name
A string representing the name of the era,
corresponding to the %EC field descriptor.
era_format
A string for formatting the year in the era,
corresponding to the %EG and %EY field descrip-
tors.
era_d_fmt
Define the format of the date in alternative era nota-
tion, corresponding to the %Ex field descriptor.
era_t_fmt
Define the locale's appropriate alternative time for-
mat, corresponding to the %EX field descriptor.
era_d_t_fmt
Define the locale's appropriate alternative date and
time format, corresponding to the %Ec field descrip-
tor.
alt_digits
Define alternative symbols for digits, corresponding
to the %O field descriptor modifier. The operand con-
sists of semicolon-separated strings, each surrounded
by double-quotes. The first string is the alternative
symbol corresponding with zero, the second string the
symbol corresponding with one, and so on. Up to 100
alternative symbol strings can be specified. The %O
modifier indicates that the string corresponding to
the value specified by means of the field descriptor
will be used instead of the value.
LC_TIME C-language Access
The following information can be accessed. These correspond
to constants defined in <langinfo.h> and used as arguments
to the nl_langinfo(3C) function.
ABDAY_x
The abbreviated weekday names (for example Sun), where
x is a number from 1 to 7.
DAY_x The full weekday names (for example Sunday), where x
is a number from 1 to 7.
ABMON_x
The abbreviated month names (for example Jan), where x
is a number from 1 to 12.
MON_x The full month names (for example January), where x is
a number from 1 to 12.
D_T_FMT
The appropriate date and time representation.
D_FMT The appropriate date representation.
T_FMT The appropriate time representation.
AM_STR
The appropriate ante-meridiem affix.
PM_STR
The appropriate post-meridiem affix.
T_FMT_AMPM
The appropriate time representation in the 12-hour
clock format with AM_STR and PM_STR.
ERA The era description segments, which describe how years
are counted and displayed for each era in a locale.
Each era description segment has the format:
direction:offset:start_date:end_date:era_name:era_format
according to the definitions below. There will be as many
era description segments as are necessary to describe the
different eras. Era description segments are separated by
semicolons.
The start of an era might not be the earliest point For
example, the Christian era B.C. starts on the day
before January 1, A.D. 1, and increases with earlier
time.
direction
Either a + or a - character. The + character
indicates that years closer to the start_date
have lower numbers than those closer to the
end_date. The - character indicates that years
closer to the start_date have higher numbers
than those closer to the end_date.
offset
The number of the year closest to the start_date
in the era.
start_date
A date in the form yyyy/mm/dd, where yyyy, mm,
and dd are the year, month and day numbers
respectively of the start of the era. Years prior
to AD 1 are represented as negative numbers.
end_date
The ending date of the era, in the same format as
the start_date, or one of the two special values
-* or +*. The value -* indicates that the ending
date is the beginning of time. The value +* indi-
cates that the ending date is the end of time.
era_name
The era, corresponding to the %EC conversion
specification.
era_format
The format of the year in the era, corresponding
to the %EY and %EY conversion specifications.
ERA_D_FMT
The era date format.
ERA_T_FMT
The locale's appropriate alternative time format,
corresponding to the %EX field descriptor.
ERA_D_T_FMT
The locale's appropriate alternative date and time
format, corresponding to the %Ec field descriptor.
ALT_DIGITS
The alternative symbols for digits, corresponding to
the %O conversion specification modifier. The value
consists of semicolon-separated symbols. The first is
the alternative symbol corresponding to zero, the
second is the symbol corresponding to one, and so on.
Up to 100 alternative symbols may be specified. The
following table displays the correspondence between
the items described above and the conversion specif-
iers used by date(1) and the strftime(3C),
wcsftime(3C), and strptime(3C) functions.
_______________________________________________________________
| localedef | langinfo | Conversion |
| Keyword | Constant | Specifier |
| abday | ABDAY_x | %a |
| day | DAY_x | %A |
| abmon | ABMON_x | %b |
| mon | MON | %B |
| d_t_fmt | D_T_FMT | %c |
| date_fmt | DATE_FMT | %C |
| d_fmt | D_FMT | %x |
| t_fmt | T_FMT | %X |
| am_pm | AM_STR | %p |
| am_pm | PM_STR | %p |
| t_fmt_ampm | T_FMT_AMPM | %r |
| era | ERA | %EC, %Eg, |
| | | %EG, %Ey, %EY |
| era_d_fmt | ERA_D_FMT | %Ex |
| era_t_fmt | ERA_T_FMT | %EX |
| era_d_t_fmt | ERA_D_T_FMT | %Ec |
| alt_digits | ALT_DIGITS | %O |
|____________________|____________________|____________________|
LC_TIME General Information
Although certain of the field descriptors in the POSIX
locale (such as the name of the month) are shown with ini-
tial capital letters, this need not be the case in other
locales. Programs using these fields may need to adjust the
capitalization if the output is going to be used at the
beginning of a sentence.
The LC_TIME descriptions of abday, day, mon, and abmon
imply a Gregorian style calendar (7-day weeks, 12-month
years, leap years, and so forth). Formatting time strings
for other types of calendars is outside the scope of this
document set.
As specified under date in Locale Definition and
strftime(3C), the field descriptors corresponding to the
optional keywords consist of a modifier followed by a tradi-
tional field descriptor (for instance %Ex). If the optional
keywords are not supported by the implementation or are
unspecified for the current locale, these field descriptors
are treated as the traditional field descriptor. For
instance, assume the following keywords:
alt_digits "0th";"1st";"2nd";"3rd";"4th";"5th";\
"6th";"7th";"8th";"9th";"10th"
d_fmt "The %Od day of %B in %Y"
On 7/4/1776, the %x field descriptor would result in "The
4th day of July in 1776" while 7/14/1789 would come out as
"The 14 day of July in 1789" It can be noted that the above
example is for illustrative purposes only; the %O modifier
is primarily intended to provide for Kanji or Hindi digits
in date formats.
LC_MESSAGES
The LC_MESSAGES category defines the format and values for
affirmative and negative responses.
The following keywords are recognized as part of the locale
definition file. The nl_langinfo(3C) function accepts
upper-case versions of the first four keywords.
yesexpr
The operand consists of an extended regular expression
(see regex(5)) that describes the acceptable affirma-
tive response to a question expecting an affirmative
or negative response.
noexpr
The operand consists of an extended regular expression
that describes the acceptable negative response to a
question expecting an affirmative or negative
response.
yesstr
The operand consists of a fixed string (not a regular
expression) that can be used by an application for
composition of a message that lists an acceptable
affirmative response, such as in a prompt.
nostr The operand consists of a fixed string that can be
used by an application for composition of a message
that lists an acceptable negative response. The format
and values for affirmative and negative responses of
the POSIX locale follow; the code listing depicting
the localedef input, the table representing the same
information with the addition of nl_langinfo() con-
stants.
LC_MESSAGES
# This is the POSIX locale definition for
# the LC_MESSAGES category.
#
yesexpr "<circumflex><left-square-bracket><y><Y><right-square-bracket>"
#
noexpr "<circumflex><left-square-bracket><n><N><right-square-bracket>"
#
yesstr "yes"
nostr "no"
END LC_MESSAGES
_______________________________________________________________
| localedef Keyword | langinfo Constant | POSIX Locale Value|
| yesexpr | YESEXPR | "^[yY]" |
| noexpr | NOEXPR | "^[nN]" |
| yesstr | YESSTR | "yes" |
| nostr | NOSTR | "no" |
|____________________|____________________|____________________|
SEE ALSO
date(1), locale(1), localedef(1), sort(1), tr(1), uniq(1),
localeconv(3C), nl_langinfo(3C), setlocale(3C), strcoll(3C),
strftime(3C), strptime(3C), strxfrm(3C), wcscoll(3C),
wcsftime(3C), wcsxfrm(3C), wctype(3C), attributes(5), char-
map(5), extensions(5), regex(5)
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