Locale::Codes(3perl) Perl Programmers Reference Guide Locale::Codes(3perl)NAMELocale::Codes - a distribution of modules to handle locale codes
DESCRIPTION
Locale-Codes is a distribution containing a set of modules. The
modules each deal with different types of codes which identify parts of
the locale including languages, countries, currency, etc.
Currently, the following modules are included:
Locale::Codes::Country, Locale::Country
This includes support for country codes (such as those listed in
ISO-3166) to specify the country.
Because this module was originally distributed as Locale::Country,
it is also available under that name.
Locale::Codes::Language, Locale::Language
This includes support for language codes (such as those listed in
ISO-639) to specify the language.
Because this module was originally distributed as Locale::Language,
it is also available under that name.
Locale::Codes::Currency, Locale::Currency
This includes support for currency codes (such as those listed in
ISO-4217) to specify the currency.
Because this module was originally distributed as Locale::Currency,
it is also available under that name.
Locale::Codes::Script, Locale::Script
This includes support for script codes (such as those listed in
ISO-15924) to specify the script.
Because this module was originally distributed as Locale::Script,
it is also available under that name.
Locale::Codes::LangExt
This includes support for language extension codes (such as those
listed in the IANA language registry) to specify the language
extension.
Locale::Codes::LangVar
This includes support for language variation codes (such as those
listed in the IANA language registry) to specify the language
variation.
Locale::Codes::LangFam
This includes support for language family codes (such as those
listed in ISO 639-5) to specify families of languages.
Each module can support an arbitrary number of code sets, and it it not
required that the relationship between these code sets be one-to-one.
For example, the Locale::Codes::Country module supports code sets from
ISO-3166 and the FIPS 10 standard, and they do not break the world down
into exactly the same sets of countries. This does not cause any
problem (though converting codes from ISO-3166 to FIPS or back will not
work except for countries that are one-to-one).
All data in all of these modules comes directly from the original
standards (or as close to direct as possible), so it should be up-to-
date at the time of release.
I plan on releasing a new version several times a year to incorporate
any changes made in the standards. However, I don't always know about
changes that occur, so if any of the standards change, and you want a
new release sooner, just email me and I'll get one out.
In addition to the modules above, there are a number of support modules
included in the distribution including:
Locale::Codes
Locale::Codes::Constants
Locale::Codes::Country_codes
Locale::Codes::Language_codes
Locale::Codes::Currency_codes
Locale::Codes::Script_codes
Locale::Codes::LangExt_codes
Locale::Codes::LangVar_codes
Locale::Codes::LangFam_codes
These modules are not intended to be used by programmers. They contain
functions or data that are used by the modules listed above.
NEW CODE SETS
I'm always open to suggestions for new code sets.
In order for me to add a code set, I want the following criteria to be
met:
General-use code set
If a code set is not general use, I'm not likely to spend the time
to add and support it.
An official source of data
I require an official (or at least, a NEARLY official) source where
I can get the data on a regular basis.
Ideally, I'd only get data from an official source, but sometimes
that is not possible. For example the ISO standards are not
typically available for free, so I may have to get some of that
data from alternate sources that I'm confident are getting their
data from the official source. However, I will always be hesitant
to accept a non-official source.
As an example, I used to get some country data from the CIA World
Factbook. Given the nature of the source, I'm sure they're updating
data from the official sources and I consider it "nearly" official.
However, even in this case, I found that they were adding codes
that were not part of the standard, so I have stopped using them as
a source.
There are many 3rd party sites which maintain lists (many of which
are actually in a more convenient form than the official sites).
Unfortunately, I will reject most of them since I have no feel for
how "official" they are.
A free source of the data
Obviously, the data must be free-of-charge. I'm not interested in
paying for the data (and I'm not interested in the overhead of
having someone else pay for the data for me).
A reliable source of data
The source of data must come from a source that I can reasonably
expect to exist for the foreseeable future since I will be
extremely reluctant to drop support for a data set once it's
included.
I am also reluctant to accept data sent to me by an individual.
Although I appreciate the offer, it is simply not practical to
consider an individual contribution as a reliable source of data.
The source should be an official agency of some sort.
These requirements are open to discussion. If you have a code set you'd
like to see added, but which may not meet all of the above
requirements, feel free to email me and we'll discuss it. Depending on
circumstances, I may be willing to waive some of these criteria.
COMMON ALIASES
As of version 2.00, the modules supported common variants of names.
For example, Locale::Country supports variant names for countries, and
a few of the most common ones are included in the data. The country
code for "United States" is "us", so:
country2code('United States');
=> "us"
Now the following will also return 'us':
country2code('United States of America');
country2code('USA');
Any number of common aliases may be included in the data, in addition
to the names that come directly from the standards. If you have a
common alias for a country, language, or any other of the types of
codes, let me know and I'll add it, with some restrictions.
For example, the country name "North Korea" never appeared in any of
the official sources (instead, it was "Korea, North" or "Korea,
Democratic People's Republic of". I would honor a request to add an
alias "North Korea" since that's a very common way to specify the
country (please don't request this... I've already added it).
On the other hand, a request to add Zaire as an alias for "Congo, The
Democratic Republic of" will not be honored. The country's official
name is no longer Zaire, so adding it as an alias violates the
standard. Zaire was kept as an alias in versions prior to 3.00, but it
has been removed. Other aliases (if any) which no longer appear in any
standard (and which are not common variations of the name in the
standards) have also been removed.
DEPRECATED CODES
Occasionally, a code is deprecated, but it may still be desirable to
have access to it.
Although there is no way to see every code that has ever existed and
been deprecated (since most codesets do not have that information
available), as of version 3.20, every code which has ever been included
in these modules can be referenced.
For more information, refer to the documentation on the code2XXX,
XXX2code, all_XXX_codes, and all_XXX_names function in the
Locale::Codes::API documentation.
SEE ALSO
Locale::Codes::API
The list of functions available in each of the modules listed
below. The APIs for each module are exactly identical.
Locale::Codes::Country
Codes for identification of countries.
Locale::Codes::Language
Codes for identification of languages.
Locale::Codes::Script
Codes for identification of scripts.
Locale::Codes::Currency
Codes for identification of currencies and funds.
Locale::Codes::LangExt
Codes for identification of language extensions.
Locale::Codes::LangVar
Codes for identification of language variations.
Locale::Codes::LangFam
Codes for identification of language families.
Locale::Codes::Changes
A history of changes made to this distribution.
AUTHOR
Locale::Country and Locale::Language were originally written by Neil
Bowers at the Canon Research Centre Europe (CRE). They maintained the
distribution from 1997 to 2001.
Locale::Currency was originally written by Michael Hennecke and was
modified by Neil Bowers for inclusion in the distribution.
From 2001 to 2004, maintenance was continued by Neil Bowers. He
modified Locale::Currency for inclusion in the distribution. He also
added Locale::Constants and Locale::Script.
From 2004-2009, the module was unmaintained.
In 2010, maintenance was taken over by Sullivan Beck (sbeck@cpan.org)
with Neil Bower's permission. All problems or comments should be sent
there. Alternately, problems can be reported using the perl problem
tracker at:
https://rt.cpan.org/Dist/Display.html?Queue=Locale-Codes
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 1997-2001 Canon Research Centre Europe (CRE).
Copyright (c) 2001 Michael Hennecke (Locale::Currency)
Copyright (c) 2001-2010 Neil Bowers
Copyright (c) 2010-2013 Sullivan Beck
This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.
perl v5.18.2 2014-01-06 Locale::Codes(3perl)
