SETLOCALE(3C) Standard C Library Functions SETLOCALE(3C)

NAME

setlocale - modify and query a program's locale

SYNOPSIS

#include <locale.h>

char *setlocale(int category, const char *locale);

DESCRIPTION

The setlocale() function selects the appropriate piece of the program's
locale as specified by the category and locale arguments. The category
argument may have the following values: LC_CTYPE, LC_NUMERIC, LC_TIME,
LC_COLLATE, LC_MONETARY, LC_MESSAGES, and LC_ALL. These names are defined
in the <locale.h> header. The LC_ALL variable names all of a program's
locale categories.


The LC_CTYPE variable affects the behavior of character handling
functions such as isdigit(3C) and tolower(3C), and multibyte character
functions such as mbtowc(3C) and wctomb(3C).


The LC_NUMERIC variable affects the decimal point character and thousands
separator character for the formatted input/output functions and string
conversion functions.


The LC_TIME variable affects the date and time format as delivered by
ascftime(3C), cftime(3C), getdate(3C), strftime(3C), and strptime(3C).


The LC_COLLATE variable affects the sort order produced by collating
functions such as strcoll(3C) and strxfrm(3C).


The LC_MONETARY variable affects the monetary formatted information
returned by localeconv(3C).


The LC_MESSAGES variable affects the behavior of messaging functions such
as dgettext(3C), gettext(3C), and gettxt(3C).


A value of "C" for locale specifies the traditional UNIX system behavior.
At program startup, the equivalent of


setlocale(LC_ALL, "C")


is executed. This has the effect of initializing each category to the
locale described by the environment "C".


A value of "" for locale specifies that the locale should be taken from
environment variables. The order in which the environment variables are
checked for the various categories is given below:


+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| Category | 1st Env Var | 2nd Env Var | 3rd Env Var |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
|LC_CTYPE: | LC_ALL | LC_CTYPE | LANG |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
|LC_COLLATE: | LC_ALL | LC_COLLATE | LANG |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
|LC_TIME: | LC_ALL | LC_TIME | LANG |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
|LC_NUMERIC: | LC_ALL | LC_NUMERIC | LANG |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
|LC_MONETARY: | LC_ALL | LC_MONETARY | LANG |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
|LC_MESSAGES: | LC_ALL | LC_MESSAGES | LANG |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+


If a pointer to a string is given for locale, setlocale() attempts to set
the locale for the given category to locale. If setlocale() succeeds,
locale is returned. If setlocale() fails, a null pointer is returned and
the program's locale is not changed.


For category LC_ALL, the behavior is slightly different. If a pointer to
a string is given for locale and LC_ALL is given for category,
setlocale() attempts to set the locale for all the categories to locale.
The locale may be a simple locale, consisting of a single locale, or a
composite locale. If the locales for all the categories are the same
after all the attempted locale changes, setlocale() will return a pointer
to the common simple locale. If there is a mixture of locales among the
categories, setlocale() will return a composite locale.

RETURN VALUES

Upon successful completion, setlocale() returns the string associated
with the specified category for the new locale. Otherwise, setlocale()
returns a null pointer and the program's locale is not changed.


A null pointer for locale causes setlocale() to return a pointer to the
string associated with the category for the program's current locale.
The program's locale is not changed.


The string returned by setlocale() is such that a subsequent call with
that string and its associated category will restore that part of the
program's locale. The string returned must not be modified by the
program, but may be overwritten by a subsequent call to setlocale().

ERRORS

No errors are defined.

FILES

/usr/lib/locale/locale
locale database directory for locale

ATTRIBUTES

See attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:


+--------------------+-------------------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+--------------------+-------------------------+
|CSI | Enabled |
+--------------------+-------------------------+
|Interface Stability | Standard |
+--------------------+-------------------------+
|MT-Level | MT-Safe with exceptions |
+--------------------+-------------------------+

SEE ALSO

locale(1), ctype(3C), getdate(3C) gettext(3C), gettxt(3C), isdigit(3C),
libc(3LIB), localeconv(3C), mbtowc(3C), strcoll(3C), strftime(3C),
strptime(3C) strxfrm(3C) tolower(3C), wctomb(3C), attributes(7),
environ(7), locale(7), standards(7)

NOTES

It is unsafe for any thread to change locale (by calling setlocale() with
a non-null locale argument) in a multithreaded application while any
other thread in the application is using any locale-sensitive routine. To
change locale in a multithreaded application, setlocale() should be
called prior to using any locale-sensitive routine. Using setlocale() to
query the current locale is safe and can be used anywhere in a
multithreaded application except when some other thread is changing
locale.


It is the user's responsibility to ensure that mixed locale categories
are compatible. For example, setting LC_CTYPE=C and LC_TIME=ja (where ja
indicates Japanese) will not work, because Japanese time cannot be
represented in the "C" locale's ASCII codeset.

September 19, 2005 SETLOCALE(3C)