setlocale man page on 4.4BSD

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

NAME
     setlocale, localeconv — natural language formatting for C

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), mbrune(3), multibyte(3) and
		  rune(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_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 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 only function in the library that sets the locale is
     setlocale(); the locale is never changed as a side effect of some other
     routine.

     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;
	   };

     The individual fields have the following meanings:

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

     thousands_sep	The separator between groups of digits before the dec‐
			imal point, except for currency values.

     grouping		The sizes of the groups of digits, except for currency
			values.	 This is a pointer to a vector of integers,
			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 digits.  If
			the list is terminated with CHAR_MAX, no more grouping
			is performed.

     int_curr_symbol	The standardized international currency symbol.

     currency_symbol	The local currency symbol.

     mon_decimal_point	The decimal point character for currency values.

     mon_thousands_sep	The separator for digit groups in currency values.

     mon_grouping	Like grouping but for currency values.

     positive_sign	The character used to denote nonnegative currency val‐
			ues, usually the empty string.

     negative_sign	The character used to denote negative currency values,
			usually a minus sign.

     int_frac_digits	The number of digits after the decimal point in an
			international-style currency value.

     frac_digits	The number of digits after the decimal point in the
			local style for currency values.

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

     p_sep_by_space	1 if a space is inserted between the currency symbol
			and the currency 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, coded 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.

     n_sign_posn	Like p_sign_posn but for negative currency values.

     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().

FILES
     $PATH_LOCALE/locale/category
     /usr/share/locale/locale/category	locale file for the locale locale and
					the category category.

SEE ALSO
     euc(4), mbrune(3), multibyte(3), rune(3), strcoll(3), strxfrm(3), utf2(4)

STANDARDS
     The setlocale() and localeconv() functions conform to ANSI X3.159-1989
     (“ANSI C89”).

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.

BSD				 June 9, 1993				   BSD
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