Locale::Language(Perl Programmers Reference GLocale::Language(3p)NAMELocale::Language - ISO two letter codes for language iden-
tification (ISO 639)
SYNOPSIS
use Locale::Language;
$lang = code2language('en'); # $lang gets 'English'
$code = language2code('French'); # $code gets 'fr'
@codes = all_language_codes();
@names = all_language_names();
DESCRIPTION
The "Locale::Language" module provides access to the ISO
two-letter codes for identifying languages, as defined in
ISO 639. You can either access the codes via the "conversion
routines" (described below), or via the two functions which
return lists of all language codes or all language names.
CONVERSION ROUTINES
There are two conversion routines: "code2language()" and
"language2code()".
code2language()
This function takes a two letter language code and
returns a string which contains the name of the language
identified. If the code is not a valid language code, as
defined by ISO 639, then "undef" will be returned.
$lang = code2language($code);
language2code()
This function takes a language name and returns the
corresponding two letter language code, if such exists.
If the argument could not be identified as a language
name, then "undef" will be returned.
$code = language2code('French');
The case of the language name is not important. See the
section "KNOWN BUGS AND LIMITATIONS" below.
QUERY ROUTINES
There are two function which can be used to obtain a list of
all language codes, or all language names:
"all_language_codes()"
Returns a list of all two-letter language codes. The
codes are guaranteed to be all lower-case, and not in
any particular order.
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Locale::Language(Perl Programmers Reference GLocale::Language(3p)
"all_language_names()"
Returns a list of all language names for which there is
a corresponding two-letter language code. The names are
capitalised, and not returned in any particular order.
EXAMPLES
The following example illustrates use of the
"code2language()" function. The user is prompted for a
language code, and then told the corresponding language
name:
$| = 1; # turn off buffering
print "Enter language code: ";
chop($code = <STDIN>);
$lang = code2language($code);
if (defined $lang)
{
print "$code = $lang\n";
}
else
{
print "'$code' is not a valid language code!\n";
}
KNOWN BUGS AND LIMITATIONS
+ In the current implementation, all data is read in when
the module is loaded, and then held in memory. A lazy
implementation would be more memory friendly.
+ Currently just supports the two letter language codes -
there are also three-letter codes, and numbers. Would
these be of any use to anyone?
SEE ALSO
Locale::Country
ISO codes for identification of country (ISO 3166). Sup-
ports 2-letter, 3-letter, and numeric country codes.
Locale::Script
ISO codes for identification of written scripts (ISO
15924).
Locale::Currency
ISO three letter codes for identification of currencies
and funds (ISO 4217).
ISO 639:1988 (E/F)
Code for the representation of names of languages.
http://lcweb.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/langhome.html
Home page for ISO 639-2.
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Locale::Language(Perl Programmers Reference GLocale::Language(3p)AUTHOR
Neil Bowers <neil@bowers.com>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2002-2004, Neil Bowers.
Copyright (c) 1997-2001 Canon Research Centre Europe (CRE).
This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
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