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NAME | DESCRIPTION | FILES | STANDARDS | NOTES | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON |
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locale(5) File Formats Manual locale(5)
locale - describes a locale definition file
The locale definition file contains all the information that the
localedef(1) command needs to convert it into the binary locale
database.
The definition files consist of sections which each describe a
locale category in detail. See locale(7) for additional details
for these categories.
Syntax
The locale definition file starts with a header that may consist
of the following keywords:
escape_char
is followed by a character that should be used as the
escape-character for the rest of the file to mark
characters that should be interpreted in a special way.
It defaults to the backslash (\).
comment_char
is followed by a character that will be used as the
comment-character for the rest of the file. It defaults
to the number sign (#).
The locale definition has one part for each locale category.
Each part can be copied from another existing locale or can be
defined from scratch. If the category should be copied, the only
valid keyword in the definition is copy followed by the name of
the locale in double quotes which should be copied. The
exceptions for this rule are LC_COLLATE and LC_CTYPE where a copy
statement can be followed by locale-specific rules and selected
overrides.
When defining a locale or a category from scratch, an existing
system- provided locale definition file should be used as a
reference to follow common glibc conventions.
Locale category sections
The following category sections are defined by POSIX:
• LC_CTYPE
• LC_COLLATE
• LC_MESSAGES
• LC_MONETARY
• LC_NUMERIC
• LC_TIME
In addition, since glibc 2.2, the GNU C library supports the
following nonstandard categories:
• LC_ADDRESS
• LC_IDENTIFICATION
• LC_MEASUREMENT
• LC_NAME
• LC_PAPER
• LC_TELEPHONE
See locale(7) for a more detailed description of each category.
LC_ADDRESS
The definition starts with the string LC_ADDRESS in the first
column.
The following keywords are allowed:
postal_fmt
followed by a string containing field descriptors that
define the format used for postal addresses in the locale.
The following field descriptors are recognized:
%n Person's name, possibly constructed with the
LC_NAME name_fmt keyword (since glibc 2.24).
%a Care of person, or organization.
%f Firm name.
%d Department name.
%b Building name.
%s Street or block (e.g., Japanese) name.
%h House number or designation.
%N Insert an end-of-line if the previous descriptor's
value was not an empty string; otherwise ignore.
%t Insert a space if the previous descriptor's value was
not an empty string; otherwise ignore.
%r Room number, door designation.
%e Floor number.
%C Country designation, from the country_post keyword.
%l Local township within town or city (since glibc 2.24).
%z Zip number, postal code.
%T Town, city.
%S State, province, or prefecture.
%c Country, as taken from data record.
Each field descriptor may have an 'R' after the '%' to
specify that the information is taken from a Romanized
version string of the entity.
country_name
followed by the country name in the language of the
current document (e.g., "Deutschland" for the de_DE
locale).
country_post
followed by the abbreviation of the country (see
CERT_MAILCODES).
country_ab2
followed by the two-letter abbreviation of the country
(ISO 3166).
country_ab3
followed by the three-letter abbreviation of the country
(ISO 3166).
country_num
followed by the numeric country code (ISO 3166).
country_car
followed by the international license plate country code.
country_isbn
followed by the ISBN code (for books).
lang_name
followed by the language name in the language of the
current document.
lang_ab
followed by the two-letter abbreviation of the language
(ISO 639).
lang_term
followed by the three-letter abbreviation of the language
(ISO 639-2/T).
lang_lib
followed by the three-letter abbreviation of the language
for library use (ISO 639-2/B). Applications should in
general prefer lang_term over lang_lib.
The LC_ADDRESS definition ends with the string END LC_ADDRESS.
LC_CTYPE
The definition starts with the string LC_CTYPE in the first
column.
The following keywords are allowed:
upper followed by a list of uppercase letters. The letters A
through Z are included automatically. Characters also
specified as cntrl, digit, punct, or space are not
allowed.
lower followed by a list of lowercase letters. The letters a
through z are included automatically. Characters also
specified as cntrl, digit, punct, or space are not
allowed.
alpha followed by a list of letters. All character specified as
either upper or lower are automatically included.
Characters also specified as cntrl, digit, punct, or space
are not allowed.
digit followed by the characters classified as numeric digits.
Only the digits 0 through 9 are allowed. They are
included by default in this class.
space followed by a list of characters defined as white-space
characters. Characters also specified as upper, lower,
alpha, digit, graph, or xdigit are not allowed. The
characters <space>, <form-feed>, <newline>, <carriage-
return>, <tab>, and <vertical-tab> are automatically
included.
cntrl followed by a list of control characters. Characters also
specified as upper, lower, alpha, digit, punct, graph,
print, or xdigit are not allowed.
punct followed by a list of punctuation characters. Characters
also specified as upper, lower, alpha, digit, cntrl,
xdigit, or the <space> character are not allowed.
graph followed by a list of printable characters, not including
the <space> character. The characters defined as upper,
lower, alpha, digit, xdigit, and punct are automatically
included. Characters also specified as cntrl are not
allowed.
print followed by a list of printable characters, including the
<space> character. The characters defined as upper,
lower, alpha, digit, xdigit, punct, and the <space>
character are automatically included. Characters also
specified as cntrl are not allowed.
xdigit followed by a list of characters classified as hexadecimal
digits. The decimal digits must be included followed by
one or more set of six characters in ascending order. The
following characters are included by default: 0 through 9,
a through f, A through F.
blank followed by a list of characters classified as blank. The
characters <space> and <tab> are automatically included.
charclass
followed by a list of locale-specific character class
names which are then to be defined in the locale.
toupper
followed by a list of mappings from lowercase to uppercase
letters. Each mapping is a pair of a lowercase and an
uppercase letter separated with a , and enclosed in
parentheses.
tolower
followed by a list of mappings from uppercase to lowercase
letters. If the keyword tolower is not present, the
reverse of the toupper list is used.
map totitle
followed by a list of mapping pairs of characters and
letters to be used in titles (headings).
class followed by a locale-specific character class definition,
starting with the class name followed by the characters
belonging to the class.
charconv
followed by a list of locale-specific character mapping
names which are then to be defined in the locale.
outdigit
followed by a list of alternate output digits for the
locale.
map to_inpunct
followed by a list of mapping pairs of alternate digits
and separators for input digits for the locale.
map to_outpunct
followed by a list of mapping pairs of alternate
separators for output for the locale.
translit_start
marks the start of the transliteration rules section. The
section can contain the include keyword in the beginning
followed by locale-specific rules and overrides. Any rule
specified in the locale file will override any rule copied
or included from other files. In case of duplicate rule
definitions in the locale file, only the first rule is
used.
A transliteration rule consist of a character to be
transliterated followed by a list of transliteration
targets separated by semicolons. The first target which
can be presented in the target character set is used, if
none of them can be used the default_missing character
will be used instead.
include
in the transliteration rules section includes a
transliteration rule file (and optionally a repertoire map
file).
default_missing
in the transliteration rules section defines the default
character to be used for transliteration where none of the
targets cannot be presented in the target character set.
translit_end
marks the end of the transliteration rules.
The LC_CTYPE definition ends with the string END LC_CTYPE.
LC_COLLATE
Note that glibc does not support all POSIX-defined options, only
the options described below are supported (as of glibc 2.23).
The definition starts with the string LC_COLLATE in the first
column.
The following keywords are allowed:
coll_weight_max
followed by the number representing used collation levels.
This keyword is recognized but ignored by glibc.
collating-element
followed by the definition of a collating-element symbol
representing a multicharacter collating element.
collating-symbol
followed by the definition of a collating symbol that can
be used in collation order statements.
define followed by string to be evaluated in an ifdef string /
else / endif construct.
reorder-after
followed by a redefinition of a collation rule.
reorder-end
marks the end of the redefinition of a collation rule.
reorder-sections-after
followed by a script name to reorder listed scripts after.
reorder-sections-end
marks the end of the reordering of sections.
script followed by a declaration of a script.
symbol-equivalence
followed by a collating-symbol to be equivalent to another
defined collating-symbol.
The collation rule definition starts with a line:
order_start
followed by a list of keywords chosen from forward,
backward, or position. The order definition consists of
lines that describe the collation order and is terminated
with the keyword order_end.
The LC_COLLATE definition ends with the string END LC_COLLATE.
LC_IDENTIFICATION
The definition starts with the string LC_IDENTIFICATION in the
first column.
The following keywords are allowed:
title followed by the title of the locale document (e.g., "Maori
language locale for New Zealand").
source followed by the name of the organization that maintains
this document.
address
followed by the address of the organization that maintains
this document.
contact
followed by the name of the contact person at the
organization that maintains this document.
email followed by the email address of the person or
organization that maintains this document.
tel followed by the telephone number (in international format)
of the organization that maintains this document. As of
glibc 2.24, this keyword is deprecated in favor of other
contact methods.
fax followed by the fax number (in international format) of
the organization that maintains this document. As of
glibc 2.24, this keyword is deprecated in favor of other
contact methods.
language
followed by the name of the language to which this
document applies.
territory
followed by the name of the country/geographic extent to
which this document applies.
audience
followed by a description of the audience for which this
document is intended.
application
followed by a description of any special application for
which this document is intended.
abbreviation
followed by the short name for provider of the source of
this document.
revision
followed by the revision number of this document.
date followed by the revision date of this document.
In addition, for each of the categories defined by the document,
there should be a line starting with the keyword category,
followed by:
(1) a string that identifies this locale category definition,
(2) a semicolon, and
(3) one of the LC_* identifiers.
The LC_IDENTIFICATION definition ends with the string END
LC_IDENTIFICATION.
LC_MESSAGES
The definition starts with the string LC_MESSAGES in the first
column.
The following keywords are allowed:
yesexpr
followed by a regular expression that describes possible
yes-responses.
noexpr followed by a regular expression that describes possible
no-responses.
yesstr followed by the output string corresponding to "yes".
nostr followed by the output string corresponding to "no".
The LC_MESSAGES definition ends with the string END LC_MESSAGES.
LC_MEASUREMENT
The definition starts with the string LC_MEASUREMENT in the first
column.
The following keywords are allowed:
measurement
followed by number identifying the standard used for
measurement. The following values are recognized:
1 Metric.
2 US customary measurements.
The LC_MEASUREMENT definition ends with the string END
LC_MEASUREMENT.
LC_MONETARY
The definition starts with the string LC_MONETARY in the first
column.
The following keywords are allowed:
int_curr_symbol
followed by the international currency symbol. This must
be a 4-character string containing the international
currency symbol as defined by the ISO 4217 standard (three
characters) followed by a separator.
currency_symbol
followed by the local currency symbol.
mon_decimal_point
followed by the single-character string that will be used
as the decimal delimiter when formatting monetary
quantities.
mon_thousands_sep
followed by the single-character string that will be used
as a group separator when formatting monetary quantities.
mon_grouping
followed by a sequence of integers separated by semicolons
that describe the formatting of monetary quantities. See
grouping below for details.
positive_sign
followed by a string that is used to indicate a positive
sign for monetary quantities.
negative_sign
followed by a string that is used to indicate a negative
sign for monetary quantities.
int_frac_digits
followed by the number of fractional digits that should be
used when formatting with the int_curr_symbol.
frac_digits
followed by the number of fractional digits that should be
used when formatting with the currency_symbol.
p_cs_precedes
followed by an integer that indicates the placement of
currency_symbol for a nonnegative formatted monetary
quantity:
0 the symbol succeeds the value.
1 the symbol precedes the value.
p_sep_by_space
followed by an integer that indicates the separation of
currency_symbol, the sign string, and the value for a
nonnegative formatted monetary quantity. The following
values are recognized:
0 No space separates the currency symbol and the value.
1 If the currency symbol and the sign string are
adjacent, a space separates them from the value;
otherwise a space separates the currency symbol and
the value.
2 If the currency symbol and the sign string are
adjacent, a space separates them from the value;
otherwise a space separates the sign string and the
value.
n_cs_precedes
followed by an integer that indicates the placement of
currency_symbol for a negative formatted monetary
quantity. The same values are recognized as for
p_cs_precedes.
n_sep_by_space
followed by an integer that indicates the separation of
currency_symbol, the sign string, and the value for a
negative formatted monetary quantity. The same values are
recognized as for p_sep_by_space.
p_sign_posn
followed by an integer that indicates where the
positive_sign should be placed for a nonnegative monetary
quantity:
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 the int_curr_symbol.
2 The sign string succeeds the quantity and the
currency_symbol or the int_curr_symbol.
3 The sign string precedes the currency_symbol or the
int_curr_symbol.
4 The sign string succeeds the currency_symbol or the
int_curr_symbol.
n_sign_posn
followed by an integer that indicates where the
negative_sign should be placed for a negative monetary
quantity. The same values are recognized as for
p_sign_posn.
int_p_cs_precedes
followed by an integer that indicates the placement of
int_curr_symbol for a nonnegative internationally
formatted monetary quantity. The same values are
recognized as for p_cs_precedes.
int_n_cs_precedes
followed by an integer that indicates the placement of
int_curr_symbol for a negative internationally formatted
monetary quantity. The same values are recognized as for
p_cs_precedes.
int_p_sep_by_space
followed by an integer that indicates the separation of
int_curr_symbol, the sign string, and the value for a
nonnegative internationally formatted monetary quantity.
The same values are recognized as for p_sep_by_space.
int_n_sep_by_space
followed by an integer that indicates the separation of
int_curr_symbol, the sign string, and the value for a
negative internationally formatted monetary quantity. The
same values are recognized as for p_sep_by_space.
int_p_sign_posn
followed by an integer that indicates where the
positive_sign should be placed for a nonnegative
internationally formatted monetary quantity. The same
values are recognized as for p_sign_posn.
int_n_sign_posn
followed by an integer that indicates where the
negative_sign should be placed for a negative
internationally formatted monetary quantity. The same
values are recognized as for p_sign_posn.
The LC_MONETARY definition ends with the string END LC_MONETARY.
LC_NAME
The definition starts with the string LC_NAME in the first
column.
Various keywords are allowed, but only name_fmt is mandatory.
Other keywords are needed only if there is common convention to
use the corresponding salutation in this locale. The allowed
keywords are as follows:
name_fmt
followed by a string containing field descriptors that
define the format used for names in the locale. The
following field descriptors are recognized:
%f Family name(s).
%F Family names in uppercase.
%g First given name.
%G First given initial.
%l First given name with Latin letters.
%o Other shorter name.
%m Additional given name(s).
%M Initials for additional given name(s).
%p Profession.
%s Salutation, such as "Doctor".
%S Abbreviated salutation, such as "Mr." or "Dr.".
%d Salutation, using the FDCC-sets conventions.
%t If the preceding field descriptor resulted in an empty
string, then the empty string, otherwise a space
character.
name_gen
followed by the general salutation for any gender.
name_mr
followed by the salutation for men.
name_mrs
followed by the salutation for married women.
name_miss
followed by the salutation for unmarried women.
name_ms
followed by the salutation valid for all women.
The LC_NAME definition ends with the string END LC_NAME.
LC_NUMERIC
The definition starts with the string LC_NUMERIC in the first
column.
The following keywords are allowed:
decimal_point
followed by the single-character string that will be used
as the decimal delimiter when formatting numeric
quantities.
thousands_sep
followed by the single-character string that will be used
as a group separator when formatting numeric quantities.
grouping
followed by a sequence of integers separated by semicolons
that describe the formatting of numeric quantities.
Each integer specifies the number of digits in a group.
The first integer defines the size of the group
immediately to the left of the decimal delimiter.
Subsequent integers define succeeding groups to the left
of the previous group. If the last integer is not -1,
then the size of the previous group (if any) is repeatedly
used for the remainder of the digits. If the last integer
is -1, then no further grouping is performed.
The LC_NUMERIC definition ends with the string END LC_NUMERIC.
LC_PAPER
The definition starts with the string LC_PAPER in the first
column.
The following keywords are allowed:
height followed by the height, in millimeters, of the standard
paper format.
width followed by the width, in millimeters, of the standard
paper format.
The LC_PAPER definition ends with the string END LC_PAPER.
LC_TELEPHONE
The definition starts with the string LC_TELEPHONE in the first
column.
The following keywords are allowed:
tel_int_fmt
followed by a string that contains field descriptors that
identify the format used to dial international numbers.
The following field descriptors are recognized:
%a Area code without nationwide prefix (the prefix is
often "00").
%A Area code including nationwide prefix.
%l Local number (within area code).
%e Extension (to local number).
%c Country code.
%C Alternate carrier service code used for dialing
abroad.
%t If the preceding field descriptor resulted in an empty
string, then the empty string, otherwise a space
character.
tel_dom_fmt
followed by a string that contains field descriptors that
identify the format used to dial domestic numbers. The
recognized field descriptors are the same as for
tel_int_fmt.
int_select
followed by the prefix used to call international phone
numbers.
int_prefix
followed by the prefix used from other countries to dial
this country.
The LC_TELEPHONE definition ends with the string END
LC_TELEPHONE.
LC_TIME
The definition starts with the string LC_TIME in the first
column.
The following keywords are allowed:
abday followed by a list of abbreviated names of the days of the
week. The list starts with the first day of the week as
specified by week (Sunday by default). See NOTES.
day followed by a list of names of the days of the week. The
list starts with the first day of the week as specified by
week (Sunday by default). See NOTES.
abmon followed by a list of abbreviated month names.
mon followed by a list of month names.
d_t_fmt
followed by the appropriate date and time format (for
syntax, see strftime(3)).
d_fmt followed by the appropriate date format (for syntax, see
strftime(3)).
t_fmt followed by the appropriate time format (for syntax, see
strftime(3)).
am_pm followed by the appropriate representation of the am and
pm strings. This should be left empty for locales not
using AM/PM convention.
t_fmt_ampm
followed by the appropriate time format (for syntax, see
strftime(3)) when using 12h clock format. This should be
left empty for locales not using AM/PM convention.
era followed by semicolon-separated strings that define how
years are counted and displayed for each era in the
locale. Each string has the following format:
direction:offset:start_date:end_date:era_name:era_format
The fields are to be defined as follows:
direction
Either + or -. + means the years closer to start_date
have lower numbers than years closer to end_date. -
means the opposite.
offset
The number of the year closest to start_date in the
era, corresponding to the %Ey descriptor (see
strptime(3)).
start_date
The start of the era in the form of yyyy/mm/dd. Years
prior AD 1 are represented as negative numbers.
end_date
The end of the era in the form of yyyy/mm/dd, or one
of the two special values of -* or +*. -* means the
ending date is the beginning of time. +* means the
ending date is the end of time.
era_name
The name of the era corresponding to the %EC
descriptor (see strptime(3)).
era_format
The format of the year in the era corresponding to the
%EY descriptor (see strptime(3)).
era_d_fmt
followed by the format of the date in alternative era
notation, corresponding to the %Ex descriptor (see
strptime(3)).
era_t_fmt
followed by the format of the time in alternative era
notation, corresponding to the %EX descriptor (see
strptime(3)).
era_d_t_fmt
followed by the format of the date and time in alternative
era notation, corresponding to the %Ec descriptor (see
strptime(3)).
alt_digits
followed by the alternative digits used for date and time
in the locale.
week followed by a list of three values separated by
semicolons: The number of days in a week (by default 7), a
date of beginning of the week (by default corresponds to
Sunday), and the minimal length of the first week in year
(by default 4). Regarding the start of the week, 19971130
shall be used for Sunday and 19971201 shall be used for
Monday. See NOTES.
first_weekday (since glibc 2.2)
followed by the number of the day from the day list to be
shown as the first day of the week in calendar
applications. The default value of 1 corresponds to
either Sunday or Monday depending on the value of the
second week list item. See NOTES.
first_workday (since glibc 2.2)
followed by the number of the first working day from the
day list. The default value is 2. See NOTES.
cal_direction
followed by a number value that indicates the direction
for the display of calendar dates, as follows:
1 Left-right from top.
2 Top-down from left.
3 Right-left from top.
date_fmt
followed by the appropriate date representation for
date(1) (for syntax, see strftime(3)).
The LC_TIME definition ends with the string END LC_TIME.
/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive
Usual default locale archive location.
/usr/share/i18n/locales
Usual default path for locale definition files.
POSIX.2.
The collective GNU C library community wisdom regarding abday,
day, week, first_weekday, and first_workday states at
https://sourceware.org/glibc/wiki/Locales the following:
• The value of the second week list item specifies the base of
the abday and day lists.
• first_weekday specifies the offset of the first day-of-week in
the abday and day lists.
• For compatibility reasons, all glibc locales should set the
value of the second week list item to 19971130 (Sunday) and
base the abday and day lists appropriately, and set
first_weekday and first_workday to 1 or 2, depending on
whether the week and work week actually starts on Sunday or
Monday for the locale.
iconv(1), locale(1), localedef(1), localeconv(3), newlocale(3),
setlocale(3), strftime(3), strptime(3), uselocale(3), charmap(5),
charsets(7), locale(7), unicode(7), utf-8(7)
This page is part of the man-pages (Linux kernel and C library
user-space interface documentation) project. Information about
the project can be found at
⟨https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/⟩. If you have a bug report
for this manual page, see
⟨https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/docs/man-pages/man-pages.git/tree/CONTRIBUTING⟩.
This page was obtained from the tarball man-pages-6.9.1.tar.gz
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Linux man-pages 6.9.1 2024-06-15 locale(5)
Pages that refer to this page: locale(1), localedef(1), duplocale(3), locale_t(3type), newlocale(3), printf(3), uselocale(3), charmap(5), repertoiremap(5), locale(7)
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