1localedef(1) General Commands Manual localedef(1)
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6 localedef - compile locale definition files
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9 localedef [options] outputpath
10 localedef --add-to-archive [options] compiledpath
12 localedef --delete-from-archive [options] localename ...
14 localedef --list-archive [options]
16 localedef --help
18 localedef --usage
20 localedef --version
22
24 The localedef program reads the indicated charmap and input files, com‐
25 piles them to a binary form quickly usable by the locale functions in
26 the C library (setlocale(3), localeconv(3), etc.), and places the out‐
27 put in outputpath.
28 The outputpath argument is interpreted as follows:
30 • If outputpath contains a slash character ('/'), it is interpreted as
32 the name of the directory where the output definitions are to be
33 stored. In this case, there is a separate output file for each lo‐
34 cale category (LC_TIME, LC_NUMERIC, and so on).
35 • If the --no-archive option is used, outputpath is the name of a sub‐
37 directory in /usr/lib/locale where per-category compiled files are
38 placed.
39 • Otherwise, outputpath is the name of a locale and the compiled lo‐
41 cale data is added to the archive file /usr/lib/locale/locale-ar‐
42 chive. A locale archive is a memory-mapped file which contains all
43 the system-provided locales; it is used by all localized programs
44 when the environment variable LOCPATH is not set.
45 In any case, localedef aborts if the directory in which it tries to
47 write locale files has not already been created.
48 If no charmapfile is given, the value ANSI_X3.4-1968 (for ASCII) is
50 used by default. If no inputfile is given, or if it is given as a dash
51 (-), localedef reads from standard input.
52
54 Operation-selection options
55 A few options direct localedef to do something other than compile lo‐
56 cale definitions. Only one of these options should be used at a time.
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 --delete-from-archive
64 Delete the named locales from the locale archive file.
65 --list-archive
67 List the locales contained in the locale archive file.
68 Other options
70 Some of the following options are sensible only for certain operations;
71 generally, it should be self-evident which ones. Notice that -f and -c
72 are reversed from what you might expect; that is, -f is not the same as
73 --force.
74 -f charmapfile, --charmap=charmapfile
76 Specify the file that defines the character set that is used by
77 the input file. If charmapfile contains a slash character
78 ('/'), it is interpreted as the name of the character map. Oth‐
79 erwise, the file is sought in the current directory and the de‐
80 fault directory for character maps. If the environment variable
81 I18NPATH is set, $I18NPATH/charmaps/ and $I18NPATH/ are also
82 searched after the current directory. The default directory for
83 character maps is printed by localedef --help.
84 -i inputfile, --inputfile=inputfile
86 Specify the locale definition file to compile. The file is
87 sought in the current directory and the default directory for
88 locale definition files. If the environment variable I18NPATH
89 is set, $I18NPATH/locales/ and $I18NPATH are also searched after
90 the current directory. The default directory for locale defini‐
91 tion files is printed by localedef --help.
92 -u repertoirefile, --repertoire-map=repertoirefile
94 Read mappings from symbolic names to Unicode code points from
95 repertoirefile. If repertoirefile contains a slash character
96 ('/'), it is interpreted as the pathname of the repertoire map.
97 Otherwise, the file is sought in the current directory and the
98 default directory for repertoire maps. If the environment vari‐
99 able I18NPATH is set, $I18NPATH/repertoiremaps/ and $I18NPATH
100 are also searched after the current directory. The default di‐
101 rectory for repertoire maps is printed by localedef --help.
102 -A aliasfile, --alias-file=aliasfile
104 Use aliasfile to look up aliases for locale names. There is no
105 default aliases file.
106 -c, --force
108 Write the output files even if warnings were generated about the
109 input file.
110 -v, --verbose
112 Generate extra warnings about errors that are normally ignored.
113 --big-endian
115 Generate big-endian output.
116 --little-endian
118 Generate little-endian output.
119 --no-archive
121 Do not use the locale archive file, instead create outputpath as
122 a subdirectory in the same directory as the locale archive file,
123 and create separate output files for locale categories in it.
124 This is helpful to prevent system locale archive updates from
125 overwriting custom locales created with localedef.
126 --no-hard-links
128 Do not create hard links between installed locales.
129 --no-warnings=warnings
131 Comma-separated list of warnings to disable. Supported warnings
132 are ascii and intcurrsym.
133 --posix
135 Conform strictly to POSIX. Implies --verbose. This option cur‐
136 rently has no other effect. POSIX conformance is assumed if the
137 environment variable POSIXLY_CORRECT is set.
138 --prefix=pathname
140 Set the prefix to be prepended to the full archive pathname. By
141 default, the prefix is empty. Setting the prefix to foo, the
142 archive would be placed in foo/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive.
143 --quiet
145 Suppress all notifications and warnings, and report only fatal
146 errors.
147 --replace
149 Replace a locale in the locale archive file. Without this op‐
150 tion, if the locale is in the archive file already, an error oc‐
151 curs.
152 --warnings=warnings
154 Comma-separated list of warnings to enable. Supported warnings
155 are ascii and intcurrsym.
156 -?, --help
158 Print a usage summary and exit. Also prints the default paths
159 used by localedef.
160 --usage
162 Print a short usage summary and exit.
163 -V, --version
165 Print the version number, license, and disclaimer of warranty
166 for localedef.
167
169 One of the following exit values can be returned by localedef:
170 0 Command completed successfully.
172 1 Warnings or errors occurred, output files were written.
174 4 Errors encountered, no output created.
176
178 POSIXLY_CORRECT
179 The --posix flag is assumed if this environment variable is set.
180 I18NPATH
182 A colon-separated list of search directories for files.
183
185 /usr/share/i18n/charmaps
186 Usual default character map path.
187 /usr/share/i18n/locales
189 Usual default path for locale definition files.
190 /usr/share/i18n/repertoiremaps
192 Usual default repertoire map path.
193 /usr/lib/locale/locale-archive
195 Usual default locale archive location.
196 /usr/lib/locale
198 Usual default path for compiled individual locale data files.
199 outputpath/LC_ADDRESS
201 An output file that contains information about formatting of ad‐
202 dresses and geography-related items.
203 outputpath/LC_COLLATE
205 An output file that contains information about the rules for
206 comparing strings.
207 outputpath/LC_CTYPE
209 An output file that contains information about character
210 classes.
211 outputpath/LC_IDENTIFICATION
213 An output file that contains metadata about the locale.
214 outputpath/LC_MEASUREMENT
216 An output file that contains information about locale measure‐
217 ments (metric versus US customary).
218 outputpath/LC_MESSAGES/SYS_LC_MESSAGES
220 An output file that contains information about the language mes‐
221 sages should be printed in, and what an affirmative or negative
222 answer looks like.
223 outputpath/LC_MONETARY
225 An output file that contains information about formatting of
226 monetary values.
227 outputpath/LC_NAME
229 An output file that contains information about salutations for
230 persons.
231 outputpath/LC_NUMERIC
233 An output file that contains information about formatting of
234 nonmonetary numeric values.
235 outputpath/LC_PAPER
237 An output file that contains information about settings related
238 to standard paper size.
239 outputpath/LC_TELEPHONE
241 An output file that contains information about formats to be
242 used with telephone services.
243 outputpath/LC_TIME
245 An output file that contains information about formatting of
246 data and time values.
247
249 POSIX.1-2008.
250
252 Compile the locale files for Finnish in the UTF-8 character set and add
253 it to the default locale archive with the name fi_FI.UTF-8:
254 localedef -f UTF-8 -i fi_FI fi_FI.UTF-8
256 The next example does the same thing, but generates files into the
258 fi_FI.UTF-8 directory which can then be used by programs when the envi‐
259 ronment variable LOCPATH is set to the current directory (note that the
260 last argument must contain a slash):
261 localedef -f UTF-8 -i fi_FI ./fi_FI.UTF-8
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265 locale(1), charmap(5), locale(5), repertoiremap(5), locale(7)
266Linux man-pages 6.04 2023-03-12 localedef(1)