1LOCALEDEF(1) Linux User Manual LOCALEDEF(1)
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6 localedef - compile locale definition files
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9 localedef [options] outputpath
10 localedef --list-archive [options]
11 localedef --delete-from-archive [options] localename ...
12 localedef --add-to-archive [options] compiledpath
13 localedef --version
14 localedef --help
15 localedef --usage
16
18 The localedef program reads the indicated charmap and input files, com‐
19 piles them to a binary form quickly usable by the locale functions in
20 the C library (setlocale(3), localeconv(3), etc.), and places the out‐
21 put in outputpath.
22 The outputpath argument is interpreted as follows:
24 * If outputpath contains a slash character ('/'), it is interpreted as
26 the name of the directory where the output definitions are to be
27 stored. In this case, there is a separate output file for each lo‐
28 cale category (LC_TIME, LC_NUMERIC, and so on).
29 * If the --no-archive option is used, outputpath is the name of a sub‐
31 directory in /usr/lib/locale where per-category compiled files are
32 placed.
33 * Otherwise, outputpath is the name of a locale and the compiled lo‐
35 cale data is added to the archive file /usr/lib/locale/locale-ar‐
36 chive. A locale archive is a memory-mapped file which contains all
37 the system-provided locales; it is used by all localized programs
38 when the environment variable LOCPATH is not set.
39 In any case, localedef aborts if the directory in which it tries to
41 write locale files has not already been created.
42 If no charmapfile is given, the value ANSI_X3.4-1968 (for ASCII) is
44 used by default. If no inputfile is given, or if it is given as a dash
45 (-), localedef reads from standard input.
46
48 Operation-selection options
49 A few options direct localedef to do something other than compile lo‐
50 cale definitions. Only one of these options should be used at a time.
51 --delete-from-archive
53 Delete the named locales from the locale archive file.
54 --list-archive
56 List the locales contained in the locale archive file.
57 --add-to-archive
59 Add the compiledpath directories to the locale archive file.
60 The directories should have been created by previous runs of lo‐
61 caledef, using --no-archive.
62 Other options
64 Some of the following options are sensible only for certain operations;
65 generally, it should be self-evident which ones.
66 -f charmapfile, --charmap=charmapfile
68 Specify the file that defines the character set that is used by
69 the input file. If charmapfile contains a slash character
70 ('/'), it is interpreted as the name of the character map. Oth‐
71 erwise, the file is sought in the current directory and the de‐
72 fault directory for character maps. If the environment variable
73 I18NPATH is set, $I18NPATH/charmaps/ and $I18NPATH/ are also
74 searched after the current directory. The default directory for
75 character maps is printed by localedef --help.
76 -i inputfile, --inputfile=inputfile
78 Specify the locale definition file to compile. The file is
79 sought in the current directory and the default directory for
80 locale definition files. If the environment variable I18NPATH
81 is set, $I18NPATH/locales/ and $I18NPATH are also searched after
82 the current directory. The default directory for locale defini‐
83 tion files is printed by localedef --help.
84 -u repertoirefile, --repertoire-map=repertoirefile
86 Read mappings from symbolic names to Unicode code points from
87 repertoirefile. If repertoirefile contains a slash character
88 ('/'), it is interpreted as the pathname of the repertoire map.
89 Otherwise, the file is sought in the current directory and the
90 default directory for repertoire maps. If the environment vari‐
91 able I18NPATH is set, $I18NPATH/repertoiremaps/ and $I18NPATH
92 are also searched after the current directory. The default di‐
93 rectory for repertoire maps is printed by localedef --help.
94 -A aliasfile, --alias-file=aliasfile
96 Use aliasfile to look up aliases for locale names. There is no
97 default aliases file.
98 --prefix=pathname
100 Set the prefix to be prepended to the full archive pathname. By
101 default, the prefix is empty. Setting the prefix to foo, the
102 archive would be placed in foo/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive.
103 -c, --force
105 Write the output files even if warnings were generated about the
106 input file.
107 -v, --verbose
109 Generate extra warnings about errors that are normally ignored.
110 --quiet
112 Suppress all notifications and warnings, and report only fatal
113 errors.
114 --posix
116 Conform strictly to POSIX. Implies --verbose. This option cur‐
117 rently has no other effect. POSIX conformance is assumed if the
118 environment variable POSIXLY_CORRECT is set.
119 --replace
121 Replace a locale in the locale archive file. Without this op‐
122 tion, if the locale is in the archive file already, an error oc‐
123 curs.
124 --no-archive
126 Do not use the locale archive file, instead create outputpath as
127 a subdirectory in the same directory as the locale archive file,
128 and create separate output files for locale categories in it.
129 This is helpful to prevent system locale archive updates from
130 overwriting custom locales created with localedef.
131 -?, --help
133 Print a usage summary and exit. Also prints the default paths
134 used by localedef.
135 --usage
137 Print a short usage summary and exit.
138 -V, --version
140 Print the version number, license, and disclaimer of warranty
141 for localedef.
142
144 One of the following exit values can be returned by localedef:
145 0 Command completed successfully.
147 1 Warnings or errors occurred, output files were written.
149 4 Errors encountered, no output created.
151
153 POSIXLY_CORRECT
154 The --posix flag is assumed if this environment variable is set.
155 I18NPATH
157 A colon-separated list of search directories for files.
158
160 /usr/share/i18n/charmaps
161 Usual default character map path.
162 /usr/share/i18n/locales
164 Usual default path for locale definition files.
165 /usr/share/i18n/repertoiremaps
167 Usual default repertoire map path.
168 /usr/lib/locale/locale-archive
170 Usual default locale archive location.
171 /usr/lib/locale
173 Usual default path for compiled individual locale data files.
174 outputpath/LC_ADDRESS
176 An output file that contains information about formatting of ad‐
177 dresses and geography-related items.
178 outputpath/LC_COLLATE
180 An output file that contains information about the rules for
181 comparing strings.
182 outputpath/LC_CTYPE
184 An output file that contains information about character class‐
185 es.
186 outputpath/LC_IDENTIFICATION
188 An output file that contains metadata about the locale.
189 outputpath/LC_MEASUREMENT
191 An output file that contains information about locale measure‐
192 ments (metric versus US customary).
193 outputpath/LC_MESSAGES/SYS_LC_MESSAGES
195 An output file that contains information about the language mes‐
196 sages should be printed in, and what an affirmative or negative
197 answer looks like.
198 outputpath/LC_MONETARY
200 An output file that contains information about formatting of
201 monetary values.
202 outputpath/LC_NAME
204 An output file that contains information about salutations for
205 persons.
206 outputpath/LC_NUMERIC
208 An output file that contains information about formatting of
209 nonmonetary numeric values.
210 outputpath/LC_PAPER
212 An output file that contains information about settings related
213 to standard paper size.
214 outputpath/LC_TELEPHONE
216 An output file that contains information about formats to be
217 used with telephone services.
218 outputpath/LC_TIME
220 An output file that contains information about formatting of da‐
221 ta and time values.
222
224 POSIX.1-2008.
225
227 Compile the locale files for Finnish in the UTF-8 character set and add
228 it to the default locale archive with the name fi_FI.UTF-8:
229 localedef -f UTF-8 -i fi_FI fi_FI.UTF-8
231 The next example does the same thing, but generates files into the
233 fi_FI.UTF-8 directory which can then be used by programs when the envi‐
234 ronment variable LOCPATH is set to the current directory (note that the
235 last argument must contain a slash):
236 localedef -f UTF-8 -i fi_FI ./fi_FI.UTF-8
238
240 locale(1), charmap(5), locale(5), repertoiremap(5), locale(7)
241
243 This page is part of release 4.16 of the Linux man-pages project. A
244 description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
245 latest version of this page, can be found at
246 https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
247Linux 2017-09-15 LOCALEDEF(1)