locale/setlocale.3

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  35 .\"     @(#)setlocale.3 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/9/93
  36 .\" $FreeBSD: src/lib/libc/locale/setlocale.3,v 1.33 2004/10/17 06:51:50 tjr Exp $
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  38 .Dd November 21, 2003
  39 .Dt SETLOCALE 3
  40 .Os
  41 .Sh NAME
  42 .Nm setlocale
  43 .Nd natural language formatting for C
  44 .Sh LIBRARY
  45 .Lb libc
  46 .Sh SYNOPSIS
  47 .In locale.h
  48 .Ft char *
  49 .Fo setlocale
  50 .Fa "int category"
  51 .Fa "const char *locale"
  52 .Fc
  53 .Sh DESCRIPTION
  54 The
  55 .Fn setlocale
  56 function sets the C library's notion
  57 of natural language formatting style
  58 for particular sets of routines.
  59 Each such style is called a
  60 .Sq locale
  61 and is invoked using an appropriate name passed as a C string.
  62 .Pp
  63 The
  64 .Fn setlocale
  65 function recognizes several categories of routines.
  66 These are the categories and the sets of routines they select:
  67 .Pp
  68 .Bl -tag -width LC_MONETARY
  69 .It Dv LC_ALL
  70 Set the entire locale generically.
  71 .It Dv LC_COLLATE
  72 Set a locale for string collation routines.
  73 This controls alphabetic ordering in
  74 .Fn strcoll
  75 and
  76 .Fn strxfrm .
  77 .It Dv LC_CTYPE
  78 Set a locale for the
  79 .Xr ctype 3
  80 and
  81 .Xr multibyte 3
  82 functions.
  83 This controls recognition of upper and lower case,
  84 alphabetic or non-alphabetic characters,
  85 and so on.
  86 .It Dv LC_MESSAGES
  87 Set a locale for message catalogs, see
  88 .Xr catopen 3
  89 function.
  90 .It Dv LC_MONETARY
  91 Set a locale for formatting monetary values;
  92 this affects the
  93 .Fn localeconv
  94 function.
  95 .It Dv LC_NUMERIC
  96 Set a locale for formatting numbers.
  97 This controls the formatting of decimal points
  98 in input and output of floating point numbers
  99 in functions such as
 100 .Fn printf
 101 and
 102 .Fn scanf ,
 103 as well as values returned by
 104 .Fn localeconv .
 105 .It Dv LC_TIME
 106 Set a locale for formatting dates and times using the
 107 .Fn strftime
 108 function.
 109 .El
 110 .Pp
 111 Only three locales are defined by default:
 112 the empty string
 113 .Li "\&""\|""
 114 (which denotes the native environment) and the
 115 .Li "\&""C""
 116 and
 117 .Li "\&""POSIX""
 118 locales (which denote the C-language environment).
 119 A
 120 .Fa locale
 121 argument of
 122 .Dv NULL
 123 causes
 124 .Fn setlocale
 125 to return the current locale.
 126 By default, C programs start in the
 127 .Li "\&""C""
 128 locale.
 129 The only function in the library that sets the locale is
 130 .Fn setlocale ;
 131 the locale is never changed as a side effect of some other routine.
 132 .Sh RETURN VALUES
 133 Upon successful completion,
 134 .Fn setlocale
 135 returns the string associated with the specified
 136 .Fa category
 137 for the requested
 138 .Fa locale .
 139 The
 140 .Fn setlocale
 141 function returns
 142 .Dv NULL
 143 and fails to change the locale
 144 if the given combination of
 145 .Fa category
 146 and
 147 .Fa locale
 148 makes no sense.
 149 .Sh ERRORS
 150 No errors are defined.
 151 .Sh FILES
 152 .Bl -tag -width /usr/share/locale/locale/category -compact
 153 .It Pa $PATH_LOCALE/ Ns Em locale/category
 154 .It Pa /usr/share/locale/ Ns Em locale/category
 155 locale file for the locale
 156 .Em locale
 157 and the category
 158 .Em category .
 159 .El
 160 .Sh SEE ALSO
 161 .Xr colldef 1 ,
 162 .Xr mklocale 1 ,
 163 .Xr catopen 3 ,
 164 .Xr ctype 3 ,
 165 .Xr localeconv 3 ,
 166 .Xr multibyte 3 ,
 167 .Xr strcoll 3 ,
 168 .Xr strxfrm 3 ,
 169 .Xr euc 5 ,
 170 .Xr utf8 5 ,
 171 .Xr environ 7
 172 .Sh STANDARDS
 173 The
 174 .Fn setlocale
 175 function conforms to
 176 .St -isoC-99 .
 177 .Sh HISTORY
 178 The
 179 .Fn setlocale
 180 function first appeared in
 181 .Bx 4.4 .