LOCALE(7) Standards, Environments, and Macros LOCALE(7)

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 conventions. 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 variable 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 VARIABLES section for each utility. 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, identifying 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 characters.


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>,
as described below. When a keyword is followed 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 implementation need not accept any one portion
of a continued line with a length exceeding {LINE_MAX} bytes, it places
no limits 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 portable
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 representation:

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 character 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
duplicates 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.

Example:

c "May"


3. A character can be represented as an octal constant. An octal
constant is specified as the escape character followed 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 significant byte of the character.

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 character
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.

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.

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 addition, 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 character
preceding the ellipsis and lower than the encoded value of the character
following the ellipsis.


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 characters.


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.

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
automatically 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
portable 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.


alnum
Define characters to be classified as letters and
numeric digits. Only the characters specified for the
alpha and digit keywords are specified. Characters
specified for the keywords alpha and digit are
automatically included in this class.


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
characters.

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
characters, 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
characters, 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 characters.

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 consists 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 character 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
charclass 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
characters in each character pair are separated by a
comma and the pair enclosed by parentheses. The first
character 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
portable 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
characters in each character pair are separated by a
comma and the pair enclosed by parentheses. The first
character 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 mapping 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(7)), 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
collation weights). The following capabilities are provided:

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 collating
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 explicitly specified, also as the
collation weight to be used in sorting.

3. Multiple weights and equivalence classes. Collating elements
can be assigned one or more (up to the limit
{COLL_WEIGHTS_MAX}) collating weights for use in sorting. 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 elements
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 elements in
each successive pair of elements are then compared according
to the relative primary weights for the elements. If equal,
and more than one weight has been assigned, the pairs of
collating elements are recompared 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.

copy
Specify the name of an existing locale which is used
as the definition of this category. If this keyword
is specified, no other keyword is specified.


collating-element
Define a collating-element symbol representing a
multi-character collating element. This keyword is
optional.


collating-symbol
Define a collating symbol for use in collation order
statements. This keyword is optional.


order_start
Define collation rules. This statement is followed
by one or more collation order statements, assigning
character collation values and collation weights to
collating elements.


order_end
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.


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 collation 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 symbolic 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 recognized with the
LC_COLLATE category.


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 consists of one or more collation directives, separated by commas
(,). 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 containing 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.


Example:

order_start forward;backward


If no operands are specified, a single forward operand is assumed.

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 following 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 collated 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 character in the preceding line, and lower than the
coded character set value for the character in the following line, in the
current coded character set, will be placed in the character collation
order between the previous and the following character in ascending order
according to their coded character set values. An initial ellipsis is
interpreted as if the preceding line specified the NUL character, and a
trailing 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 use of the ellipsis
symbol ties the definition to a specific coded character set and may
preclude the definition from being portable between implementations.


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 character 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 specified in this
section, the utility will issue a warning message 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 specified for the corresponding level with the
order_start keyword. 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 character, 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 characters 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 character 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 element 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 expressions.


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 primary
equivalence class and individual secondary weights based on
their ordinal encoded values.

3. All characters based on the upper- or lower-case character 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 primary
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. Keywords 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 symbol in accordance with those specified
in the ISO 4217 standard. The fourth character is
the character used to separate the international
currency symbol 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.


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.


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 specifies the number of digits in each
group, with the initial integer defining the size
of the group immediately preceding the decimal
delimiter, and the following 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 1234567898 "\177"


In these examples, the octal value of {CHAR_MAX} is
177.


positive_sign
A string used to indicate a non-negative-valued
formatted 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
In an application conforming to the SUSv3 standard,
an integer set to 1 if the currency_symbol precedes
the value for a monetary quantity with a non-
negative value, and set to 0 if the symbol succeeds
the value.

In an application not conforming to the SUSv3
standard, an integer set to 1 if the
currency_symbol or int_currency_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
In an application conforming to the SUSv3 standard,
an integer set to 0 if no space separates the
currency_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.

In an application not conforming to the SUSv3
standard, 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
In an application conforming to the SUSv3 standard,
an integer set to 1 if the currency_symbol precedes
the value for a monetary quantity with a negative
value, and set to 0 if the symbol succeeds the
value.

In an application not conforming to the SUSv3
standard, an integer set to 1 if the
currency_symbol or int_currency_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
In an application conforming to the SUSv3 standard,
an integer set to 0 if no space separates the
currency_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.

In an application not conforming to the SUSv3
standard, 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:

In an application conforming to the SUSv3 standard:

0
Parentheses enclose the quantity and the
currency_symbol.


1
The sign string precedes the quantity and the
currency_symbol.


2
The sign string succeeds the quantity and the
currency_symbol.


3
The sign string precedes the currency_symbol.


4
The sign string succeeds the currency_symbol.

In an application not conforming to the SUSv3
standard:

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.


int_p_cs_precedes
An integer set to 1 if the 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.


int_n_cs_precedes
An integer set to 1 if the int_curr_symbol precedes
the value for a monetary quantity with a negative
value, and set to 0 if the symbol succeeds the
value.


int_p_sep_by_space
An integer set to 0 if no space separates the
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.


int_n_sep_by_space
An integer set to 0 if no space separates the
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.


int_p_sign_posn
An integer set to a value indicating the
positioning of the positive_sign for a positive
monetary quantity formatted with the international
format. The following integer values are recognized
for int_p_sign_posn and int_n_sign_posn:

0
Parentheses enclose the quantity and the
int_curr_symbol.


1
The sign string precedes the quantity and the
int_curr_symbol.


2
The sign string precedes the quantity and the
int_curr_symbol.


3
The sign string precedes the int_curr_symbol.


4
The sign string succeeds the int_curr_symbol.


int_n_sign_posn
An integer set to a value indicating the
positioning of the negative_sign for a negative
monetary quantity formatted with the international
format.


The following table shows the result of various combinations:


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 depicts the localedef(1) input, the table representing the same
information with the addition 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
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
int_p_cs_precedes -1
int_p_sep_by_space -1
int_n_cs_precedes -1
int_n_sep_by_space -1
int_p_sign_posn -1
int_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. Keywords 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 keyword
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 specifying 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 formatted
monetary quantities. In contexts where standards limit
the thousands_sep to a single byte, the result of
specifying a multi-byte operand is unspecified.


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 specifies
the number of digits in each group, with the initial
integer defining the size of the group immediately
preceding the decimal delimiter, and the following
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 depicts 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
significantly, they are described separately. For locale definition, 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 corresponding 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 meridiem 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 format 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
descriptors.


era_d_fmt
Define the format of the date in alternative era notation,
corresponding to the %Ex field descriptor.


era_t_fmt
Define the locale's appropriate alternative time format,
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 descriptor.


alt_digits
Define alternative symbols for digits, corresponding to
the %O field descriptor modifier. The operand consists 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 via
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 +* indicates
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 specifiers 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 initial 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 traditional 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"
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(7)) that describes the acceptable affirmative 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() constants.

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" |
+------------------+-------------------+--------------------+


In an application conforming to the SUSv3 standard, the information on
yesstr and nostr is not available.

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(7), charmap(7), extensions(7),
regex(7)

February 17, 2023 LOCALE(7)