setlocale man page on NetBSD

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SETLOCALE(3)		 BSD Library Functions Manual		  SETLOCALE(3)

NAME
     setlocale, localeconv — natural language formatting for C

LIBRARY
     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
     #include <locale.h>

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

     struct lconv *
     localeconv(void);

DESCRIPTION
     The setlocale() function sets the C library's notion of natural language
     formatting style for particular sets of routines.	Each such style is
     called a ‘locale’ and is invoked using an appropriate name passed as a C
     string.  The localeconv() routine returns the current locale's parameters
     for formatting numbers.

     The setlocale() function recognizes several categories of routines.
     These are the categories and the sets of routines they select:

     LC_ALL	  Set the entire locale generically.

     LC_COLLATE	  Set a locale for string collation routines.  This controls
		  alphabetic ordering in strcoll() and strxfrm().

     LC_CTYPE	  Set a locale for the ctype(3) functions.  This controls
		  recognition of upper and lower case, alphabetic or non-
		  alphabetic characters, and so on.  The real work is done by
		  the setrunelocale() function.

     LC_MESSAGES  Set a locale for message catalogs.  This controls the selec‐
		  tion of message catalogs by the catgets(3) and gettext(3)
		  families of functions.

     LC_MONETARY  Set a locale for formatting monetary values; this affects
		  the localeconv() function.

     LC_NUMERIC	  Set a locale for formatting numbers.	This controls the for‐
		  matting of decimal points in input and output of floating
		  point numbers in functions such as printf() and scanf(), as
		  well as values returned by localeconv().

     LC_TIME	  Set a locale for formatting dates and times using the
		  strftime() function.

     Only three locales are defined by default, the empty string "" which
     denotes the native environment, and the "C" and "POSIX" locales, which
     denote the C language environment.	 A locale argument of NULL causes
     setlocale() to return the current locale.	By default, C programs start
     in the "C" locale.	 The format of the locale string is described in
     nls(7).

     The only function in the library that sets the locale is setlocale(); the
     locale is never changed as a side effect of some other routine.

     Changing the setting of LC_MESSAGES has no effect on catalogs that have
     already been opened by catopen(3).

     The localeconv() function returns a pointer to a structure which provides
     parameters for formatting numbers, especially currency values:

	   struct lconv {
		   char	   *decimal_point;
		   char	   *thousands_sep;
		   char	   *grouping;
		   char	   *int_curr_symbol;
		   char	   *currency_symbol;
		   char	   *mon_decimal_point;
		   char	   *mon_thousands_sep;
		   char	   *mon_grouping;
		   char	   *positive_sign;
		   char	   *negative_sign;
		   char	   int_frac_digits;
		   char	   frac_digits;
		   char	   p_cs_precedes;
		   char	   p_sep_by_space;
		   char	   n_cs_precedes;
		   char	   n_sep_by_space;
		   char	   p_sign_posn;
		   char	   n_sign_posn;
		   char	   int_p_cs_precedes;
		   char	   int_n_cs_precedes;
		   char	   int_p_sep_by_space;
		   char	   int_n_sep_by_space;
		   char	   int_p_sign_posn;
		   char	   int_n_sign_posn;
	   };

     The individual fields have the following meanings:

     decimal_point	 The decimal point character, except for monetary val‐
			 ues.

     thousands_sep	 The separator between groups of digits before the
			 decimal point, except for monetary values.

     grouping		 The sizes of the groups of digits, except for mone‐
			 tary values.  This is a pointer to a vector of inte‐
			 gers, each of size char, representing group size from
			 low order digit groups to high order (right to left).
			 The list may be terminated with 0 or CHAR_MAX.	 If
			 the list is terminated with 0, the last group size
			 before the 0 is repeated to account for all the dig‐
			 its.  If the list is terminated with CHAR_MAX, no
			 more grouping is performed.

     int_curr_symbol	 The standardized (ISO 4217:1995) international cur‐
			 rency symbol.

     currency_symbol	 The local currency symbol.

     mon_decimal_point	 The decimal point character for monetary values.

     mon_thousands_sep	 The separator for digit groups in monetary values.

     mon_grouping	 Like grouping but for monetary values.

     positive_sign	 The character used to denote nonnegative monetary
			 values, usually the empty string.

     negative_sign	 The character used to denote negative monetary val‐
			 ues, usually a minus sign.

     int_frac_digits	 The number of digits after the decimal point in an
			 internationally formatted monetary value.

     frac_digits	 The number of digits after the decimal point in an
			 locally formatted monetary value.

     p_cs_precedes	 1 if the currency symbol precedes the monetary value
			 for nonnegative values, 0 if it follows.

     p_sep_by_space	 1 if a space is inserted between the currency symbol
			 and the monetary value for nonnegative values, 0 oth‐
			 erwise.

     n_cs_precedes	 Like p_cs_precedes but for negative values.

     n_sep_by_space	 Like p_sep_by_space but for negative values.

     p_sign_posn	 The location of the positive_sign with respect to a
			 nonnegative quantity and the currency_symbol.

     n_sign_posn	 Like p_sign_posn but for negative currency values.

     int_p_cs_precedes	 1 if the currency symbol precedes the internationally
			 formatted monetary value for nonnegative values, 0 if
			 it follows.

     int_n_cs_precedes	 Like int_p_cs_precedes but for negative values.

     int_p_sep_by_space	 1 if a space is inserted between the currency symbol
			 and the internationally formatted monetary value for
			 nonnegative values, 0 otherwise.

     int_n_sep_by_space	 Like int_p_sep_by_space but for negative values.

     int_p_sign_posn	 The location of the positive_sign with respect to a
			 nonnegative quantity and the currency_symbol, for
			 internationally formatted nonnegative monetary val‐
			 ues.

     int_n_sign_posn	 Like int_p_sign_posn but for negative values.

     The positional parameters in p_sign_posn, n_sign_posn, int_p_sign_posn
     and int_n_sign_posn are encoded as follows:
     0	  Parentheses around the entire string.
     1	  Before the string.
     2	  After the string.
     3	  Just before currency_symbol.
     4	  Just after currency_symbol.

     Unless mentioned above, an empty string as a value for a field indicates
     a zero length result or a value that is not in the current locale.	 A
     CHAR_MAX result similarly denotes an unavailable value.

RETURN VALUES
     The setlocale() function returns NULL and fails to change the locale if
     the given combination of category and locale makes no sense.  The
     localeconv() function returns a pointer to a static object which may be
     altered by later calls to setlocale() or localeconv().

EXAMPLES
     The following code illustrates how a program can initialize the interna‐
     tional environment for one language, while selectively modifying the pro‐
     gram's locale such that regular expressions and string operations can be
     applied to text recorded in a different language:

	     setlocale(LC_ALL, "de");
	     setlocale(LC_COLLATE, "fr");

     When a process is started, its current locale is set to the C or POSIX
     locale.  An internationalized program that depends on locale data not
     defined in the C or POSIX locale must invoke the setlocale subroutine in
     the following manner before using any of the locale-specific information:

	     setlocale(LC_ALL, "");

SEE ALSO
     catopen(3), gettext(3), nl_langinfo(3), nls(7)

STANDARDS
     The setlocale() and localeconv() functions conform to ANSI X3.159-1989
     (“ANSI C89”) and ISO/IEC 9899:1990 (“ISO C90”).

     The int_p_cs_precedes, int_n_cs_precedes, int_p_sep_by_space,
     int_n_sep_by_space, int_p_sign_posn and int_n_sign_posn members of struct
     lconv were introduced in ISO/IEC 9899:1999 (“ISO C99”).

HISTORY
     The setlocale() and localeconv() functions first appeared in 4.4BSD.

BUGS
     The current implementation supports only the "C" and "POSIX" locales for
     all but the LC_CTYPE locale.

     In spite of the gnarly currency support in localeconv(), the standards
     don't include any functions for generalized currency formatting.

     LC_COLLATE does not make sense for many languages.	 Use of LC_MONETARY
     could lead to misleading results until we have a real time currency con‐
     version function.	LC_NUMERIC and LC_TIME are personal choices and should
     not be wrapped up with the other categories.

     Multibyte locales aren't supported for static binaries.

BSD				 May 30, 2003				   BSD
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