locale/FreeBSD/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 $
  37 .\"
  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 .Fn setlocale "int category" "const char *locale"
  50 .Sh DESCRIPTION
  51 The
  52 .Fn setlocale
  53 function sets the C library's notion
  54 of natural language formatting style
  55 for particular sets of routines.
  56 Each such style is called a
  57 .Sq locale
  58 and is invoked using an appropriate name passed as a C string.
  59 .Pp
  60 The
  61 .Fn setlocale
  62 function recognizes several categories of routines.
  63 These are the categories and the sets of routines they select:
  64 .Pp
  65 .Bl -tag -width LC_MONETARY
  66 .It Dv LC_ALL
  67 Set the entire locale generically.
  68 .It Dv LC_COLLATE
  69 Set a locale for string collation routines.
  70 This controls alphabetic ordering in
  71 .Fn strcoll
  72 and
  73 .Fn strxfrm .
  74 .It Dv LC_CTYPE
  75 Set a locale for the
  76 .Xr ctype 3
  77 and
  78 .Xr multibyte 3
  79 functions.
  80 This controls recognition of upper and lower case,
  81 alphabetic or non-alphabetic characters,
  82 and so on.
  83 .It Dv LC_MESSAGES
  84 Set a locale for message catalogs, see
  85 .Xr catopen 3
  86 function.
  87 .It Dv LC_MONETARY
  88 Set a locale for formatting monetary values;
  89 this affects the
  90 .Fn localeconv
  91 function.
  92 .It Dv LC_NUMERIC
  93 Set a locale for formatting numbers.
  94 This controls the formatting of decimal points
  95 in input and output of floating point numbers
  96 in functions such as
  97 .Fn printf
  98 and
  99 .Fn scanf ,
 100 as well as values returned by
 101 .Fn localeconv .
 102 .It Dv LC_TIME
 103 Set a locale for formatting dates and times using the
 104 .Fn strftime
 105 function.
 106 .El
 107 .Pp
 108 Only three locales are defined by default,
 109 the empty string
 110 .Li "\&""\|""
 111 which denotes the native environment, and the
 112 .Li "\&""C""
 113 and
 114 .Li "\&""POSIX""
 115 locales, which denote the C language environment.
 116 A
 117 .Fa locale
 118 argument of
 119 .Dv NULL
 120 causes
 121 .Fn setlocale
 122 to return the current locale.
 123 By default, C programs start in the
 124 .Li "\&""C""
 125 locale.
 126 The only function in the library that sets the locale is
 127 .Fn setlocale ;
 128 the locale is never changed as a side effect of some other routine.
 129 .Sh RETURN VALUES
 130 Upon successful completion,
 131 .Fn setlocale
 132 returns the string associated with the specified
 133 .Fa category
 134 for the requested
 135 .Fa locale .
 136 The
 137 .Fn setlocale
 138 function returns
 139 .Dv NULL
 140 and fails to change the locale
 141 if the given combination of
 142 .Fa category
 143 and
 144 .Fa locale
 145 makes no sense.
 146 .Sh ERRORS
 147 No errors are defined.
 148 .Sh FILES
 149 .Bl -tag -width /usr/share/locale/locale/category -compact
 150 .It Pa $PATH_LOCALE/ Ns Em locale/category
 151 .It Pa /usr/share/locale/ Ns Em locale/category
 152 locale file for the locale
 153 .Em locale
 154 and the category
 155 .Em category .
 156 .El
 157 .Sh SEE ALSO
 158 .Xr colldef 1 ,
 159 .Xr mklocale 1 ,
 160 .Xr catopen 3 ,
 161 .Xr ctype 3 ,
 162 .Xr localeconv 3 ,
 163 .Xr multibyte 3 ,
 164 .Xr strcoll 3 ,
 165 .Xr strxfrm 3 ,
 166 .Xr euc 5 ,
 167 .Xr utf8 5 ,
 168 .Xr environ 7
 169 .Sh STANDARDS
 170 The
 171 .Fn setlocale
 172 function conforms to
 173 .St -isoC-99 .
 174 .Sh HISTORY
 175 The
 176 .Fn setlocale
 177 function first appeared in
 178 .Bx 4.4 .