1Locale::Codes(3)      User Contributed Perl Documentation     Locale::Codes(3)
2
3
4

NAME

6       Locale::Codes - a distribution of modules to handle locale codes
7

DESCRIPTION

9       Locale-Codes is a distribution containing a set of modules designed to
10       work with sets of codes which uniquely identify something.  For
11       example, there are codes associated with different countries, different
12       currencies, different languages, etc.  These sets of codes are
13       typically maintained in some standard.
14
15       This distribution provides a way to work with these lists of codes.
16       Because the data from the various standards is not available in any
17       sort of consistent API, access to the lists is not available in any
18       direct fashion.  To compensate for this, the list of codes is stored
19       internally within this distribution, and the distribution is updated on
20       a regular basis to include all known codes at that point in time.  This
21       does mean that it is necessary to keep this distribution up-to-date to
22       keep up with the various changes that are made in the various
23       standards.
24
25       Traditionally, a module has been created to work with each type of code
26       sets.  So, there is a module for working with country lists, one for
27       currency lists, etc.  Since version 3.00, all of these individual
28       modules were written as wrappers around a central module (which was not
29       intended to be used directly) which did all of the real work.
30
31       Starting with version 3.50, the central module was reworked slightly to
32       provide an object-oriented interface.  All of the modules for working
33       with individual types of code sets were reworked to use the improved OO
34       module, so the traditional interfaces still work as they always have.
35       As a result, you are free to use the traditional functional (non-OO)
36       interfaces, or to use the OO interface and bypass the wrapper modules
37       entirely.
38
39       Both methods will be supported in the future, so use the one that is
40       best suited to your needs.
41
42       Within each type, any number of code sets are allowed.  For example,
43       sets of country codes are maintained in several different locations
44       including the ISO-3166 standard, the IANA, and by the United Nations.
45       The lists of countries are similar, but not identical.  Multiple code
46       sets are supported, though trying to convert from one code set to
47       another will not always work since the list of countries is not one-to-
48       one.
49
50       All data in all of these modules comes directly from the original
51       standards (or as close to direct as possible), so it should be up-to-
52       date at the time of release.
53
54       I plan on releasing a new version several times a year to incorporate
55       any changes made in the standards. However, I don't always know about
56       changes that occur, so if any of the standards change, and you want a
57       new release sooner, just email me and I'll get one out.
58

SYNOPSIS (OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE)

60          use Locale::Codes;
61          or
62          use Locale::Codes ':constants';
63
64          $obj = new Locale::Codes 'country';
65

OBJECT-ORIENTED METHODS

67       The following methods are available.
68
69       In all methods, when specifying a code set, the name (as a string) is
70       always available.
71
72       Traditionally, you could also use a perl constant to specify the code
73       set.  In order to do so with the OO interface, you have to import the
74       constants.  To do that, load the module with:
75
76          use Locale::Codes ':constants';
77
78       new ( [TYPE [,CODESET]] )
79              $obj = new Locale::Codes;
80              $obj = new Locale::Codes 'country';
81              $obj = new Locale::Codes 'country','alpha-3';
82              $obj = new Locale::Codes 'country',LOCALE_COUNTRY_ALPHA_3;
83
84           This creates a new object that can access the data.  If no type is
85           specified (in the first argument), you must use the type method
86           described below.  No operations will work unless the type is
87           specified.
88
89           The second argument is the default code set to use.  This is
90           optional, as each type has a default code set.  The default code
91           set can be set using the codeset method below.
92
93           The last example is only available if the constants were imported
94           when the module was loaded.
95
96       show_errors ( FLAG )
97              $obj->show_errors(1);
98              $obj->show_errors(0);
99
100           By default, error messages will be produced when bad data is passed
101           to any method.  By passing in '0', these will be turned off so that
102           all failures will be silent.
103
104       type ( TYPE )
105              $obj->type($type)
106
107           This will set the type of codes that will be worked with.  $type
108           may be any of the recognized types of code sets, including:
109
110              country
111              language
112              currency
113              script
114              etc.
115
116           The list of valid types, and the code sets supported in each, are
117           described in the Locale::Codes::Types document.
118
119           This method can be called any number of times to toggle between
120           different types of code sets.
121
122       codeset ( CODESET )
123              $obj->codeset($codeset);
124
125           This sets the default code set to use.  The list of code sets
126           available for each type are described in the Locale::Codes::Types
127           document.
128
129           In all other methods below, when an optional CODESET argument is
130           omitted, it will default to this value.
131
132       code2name ( CODE [,CODESET] [,'retired'] )
133              $name = $obj->code2name($code [,$codeset] [,'retired']);
134
135           This functions take a code and returns a string which contains the
136           name of the element identified.  If the code is not a valid code in
137           the CODESET specified then "undef" will be returned.
138
139           The name of the element is the name as specified in the standard,
140           and as a result, different variations of an element name may be
141           returned for different values of CODESET.
142
143           For example, the alpha-2 country code set defines the two-letter
144           code "bo" to be "Bolivia, Plurinational State of", whereas the
145           alpha-3 code set defines the code 'bol' to be the country "Bolivia
146           (Plurinational State of)". So:
147
148              $obj->code2name('bo','alpha-2');
149                 => 'Bolivia, Plurinational State of'
150
151              $obj->code2name('bol','alpha-3');
152                 => 'Bolivia (Plurinational State of)'
153
154           By default, only active codes will be used, but if the string
155           'retired' is passed in as an argument, both active and retired
156           codes will be examined.
157
158       code2names ( CODE [,CODESET] )
159              @name = $obj->code2names($code [,$codeset]);
160
161           This functions take a code and returns a list of all names and
162           aliases associated with that code.
163
164           Only active codes may be used and only active names and aliases
165           will be returned.
166
167       name2code ( NAME [,CODESET] [,'retired'] )
168              $code = $obj->name2code($name [,$codeset] [,'retired']);
169
170           This function takes the name of an element (or any of it's aliases)
171           and returns the code that corresponds to it, if it exists. If NAME
172           could not be identified as the name of one of the elements, then
173           "undef" will be returned.
174
175           The name is not case sensitive. Also, any known variation of a name
176           may be passed in.
177
178           For example, even though the country name returned using 'alpha-2'
179           and 'alpha-3' country codes for Bolivia are different, either
180           country name may be passed in since for each code set (in addition
181           to the more common alias 'Bolivia'). So:
182
183              $obj->name2code('Bolivia, Plurinational State of','alpha-2');
184                 => bo
185
186              $obj->name2code('Bolivia (Plurinational State of)','alpha-2');
187                 => bo
188
189              $obj->name2code('Bolivia','alpha-2');
190                 => bo
191
192           By default, only active names will be used, but if the string
193           'retired' is passed in as an argument, both active and retired
194           names will be examined.
195
196       code2code ( CODE [,CODESET] ,CODESET2 )
197              $code = $obj->code2code($code [,$codeset] ,$codeset2);
198
199           This function takes a code from one code set (CODESET or the
200           default code set), and returns the corresponding code from another
201           code set (CODESET2). CODE must exists in the code set specified by
202           CODESET and must have a corresponding code in the code set
203           specified by CODESET2 or "undef" will be returned.
204
205              $obj->code2code('fin','alpha-3','alpha-2');
206                 => 'fi'
207
208           Note that this function does NOT support retired codes.
209
210       all_codes ( [CODESET] [,'retired'] )
211              @code = $obj->all_codes([$codeset] [,'retired']);
212
213           This returns a list of all code in the code set. The codes will be
214           sorted.
215
216           By default, only active codes will be returned, but if the string
217           'retired' is passed in as an argument, both active and retired
218           codes will be returned.
219
220       all_names ( [CODESET] [,'retired'] )
221              @name = $obj->all_names([$codeset] [,'retired']);
222
223           This method returns a list of all elements names for which there is
224           a corresponding code in the specified code set.
225
226           The names returned are exactly as they are specified in the
227           standard, and are sorted.
228
229           Since not all elements are listed in all code sets, the list of
230           elements may differ depending on the code set specified.
231
232           By default, only active names will be returned, but if the string
233           'retired' is passed in as an argument, both active and retired
234           names will be returned.
235
236       The following additional methods are available and can be used to
237       modify the code list data (and are therefore not generally useful).
238
239       rename_code  ( CODE ,NEW_NAME [,CODESET] )
240              $flag = $obj->rename_code($code,$new_name [,$codeset]);
241
242           This method can be used to change the official name of an element.
243           At that point, the name returned by the "code2name" method would be
244           NEW_NAME instead of the name specified in the standard.
245
246           The original name will remain as an alias.
247
248           For example, the official country name for code 'gb' is 'United
249           Kingdom'.  If you want to change that, you might call:
250
251              $obj->rename_code('gb', 'Great Britain');
252
253           This means that calling code2name('gb') will now return 'Great
254           Britain' instead of 'United Kingdom'.
255
256           If any error occurs, a warning is issued and 0 is returned. An
257           error occurs if CODE doesn't exist in the specified code set, or if
258           NEW_NAME is already in use but for a different element.
259
260           If the method succeeds, 1 is returned.
261
262       add_code  ( CODE ,NAME [,CODESET] )
263              $flag = $obj->add_code($code,$name [,$codeset]);
264
265           This method is used to add a new code and name to the data.
266
267           Both CODE and NAME must be unused in the data set or an error
268           occurs (though NAME may be used in a different data set).
269
270           For example, to create the fictitious country named "Duchy of Grand
271           Fenwick" with codes "gf" and "fen", use the following:
272
273              $obj->add_code("fe","Duchy of Grand Fenwick",'alpha-2');
274              $obj->add_code("fen","Duchy of Grand Fenwick",'alpha-3');
275
276           The return value is 1 on success, 0 on an error.
277
278       delete_code  ( CODE [,CODESET] )
279              $flag = $obj->delete_code($code [,$codeset]);
280
281           This method is used to delete a code from the data.
282
283           CODE must refer to an existing code in the code set.
284
285           The return value is 1 on success, 0 on an error.
286
287       add_alias  ( NAME ,NEW_NAME )
288              $flag = $obj->add_alias($name,$new_name);
289
290           This method is used to add a new alias to the data. They do not
291           alter the return value of the "code2name" function.
292
293           NAME must be an existing element name, and NEW_NAME must be unused
294           or an error occurs.
295
296           The return value is 1 on success, 0 on an error.
297
298       delete_alias  ( NAME )
299              $flag = $obj->delete_alias($name);
300
301           This method is used to delete an alias from the data. Once removed,
302           the element may not be referred to by NAME.
303
304           NAME must be one of a list of at least two names that may be used
305           to specify an element. If the element may only be referred to by a
306           single name, you'll need to use the "add_alias" method to add a new
307           alias first, or the "remove_code" method to remove the element
308           entirely.
309
310           If the alias is used as the name in any code set, one of the other
311           names will be used instead. Predicting exactly which one will be
312           used requires you to know the order in which the standards were
313           read, which is not reliable, so you may want to use the
314           "rename_code" method to force one of the alternate names to be
315           used.
316
317           The return value is 1 on success, 0 on an error.
318
319       replace_code  ( CODE ,NEW_CODE [,CODESET] )
320              $flag = $obj->replace_code($code,$new_code [,$codeset]);
321
322           This method is used to change the official code for an element. At
323           that point, the code returned by the "name2code" method would be
324           NEW_CODE instead of the code specified in the standard.
325
326           NEW_CODE may either be a code that is not in use, or it may be an
327           alias for CODE (in which case, CODE becomes and alias and NEW_CODE
328           becomes the "real" code).
329
330           The original code is kept as an alias, so that the "code2name"
331           routines will work with either the code from the standard or the
332           new code.
333
334           However, the "all_codes" method will only return the codes which
335           are considered "real" (which means that the list of codes will now
336           contain NEW_CODE, but will not contain CODE).
337
338       add_code_alias  ( CODE ,NEW_CODE [,CODESET] )
339              $flag = $obj->add_code_alias($code,$new_code [,$codeset]);
340
341           This method adds an alias for the code. At that point, NEW_CODE and
342           CODE will both work in the "code2name" method. However, the
343           "name2code" method will still return the original code.
344
345       delete_code_alias  ( CODE [,CODESET] )
346           These routines delete an alias for the code.
347
348           These will only work if CODE is actually an alias. If it is the
349           "real" code, it will not be deleted. You will need to use the
350           "rename_code" method to switch the real code with one of the
351           aliases, and then delete the alias.
352

TRADITIONAL INTERFACES

354       In addition the the primary OO module, the following modules are
355       included in the distribution for the traditional way of working with
356       code sets.
357
358       Each module will work with one specific type of code sets.
359
360       Locale::Codes::Country, Locale::Country
361           This includes support for country codes (such as those listed in
362           ISO-3166) to specify the country.
363
364           Because this module was originally distributed as Locale::Country,
365           it is also available under that name.
366
367       Locale::Codes::Language, Locale::Language
368           This includes support for language codes (such as those listed in
369           ISO-639) to specify the language.
370
371           Because this module was originally distributed as Locale::Language,
372           it is also available under that name.
373
374       Locale::Codes::Currency, Locale::Currency
375           This includes support for currency codes (such as those listed in
376           ISO-4217) to specify the currency.
377
378           Because this module was originally distributed as Locale::Currency,
379           it is also available under that name.
380
381       Locale::Codes::Script, Locale::Script
382           This includes support for script codes (such as those listed in
383           ISO-15924) to specify the script.
384
385           Because this module was originally distributed as Locale::Script,
386           it is also available under that name.
387
388       Locale::Codes::LangExt
389           This includes support for language extension codes (such as those
390           listed in the IANA language registry) to specify the language
391           extension.
392
393       Locale::Codes::LangVar
394           This includes support for language variation codes (such as those
395           listed in the IANA language registry) to specify the language
396           variation.
397
398       Locale::Codes::LangFam
399           This includes support for language family codes (such as those
400           listed in ISO 639-5) to specify families of languages.
401
402       In addition to the modules above, there are a number of support modules
403       included in the distribution.  Any module not listed above falls into
404       that category.
405
406       These modules are not intended to be used by programmers. They contain
407       functions or data that are used by the modules listed above.  No
408       support of any kind is offered for using these modules directly.  They
409       may be modified at any time.
410

COMMON ALIASES

412       As of version 2.00, the modules supported common variants of names.
413
414       For example, Locale::Country supports variant names for countries, and
415       a few of the most common ones are included in the data. The country
416       code for "United States" is "us", so:
417
418          country2code('United States');
419            => "us"
420
421       Now the following will also return 'us':
422
423          country2code('United States of America');
424          country2code('USA');
425
426       Any number of common aliases may be included in the data, in addition
427       to the names that come directly from the standards.  If you have a
428       common alias for a country, language, or any other of the types of
429       codes, let me know and I'll add it, with some restrictions.
430
431       For example, the country name "North Korea" never appeared in any of
432       the official sources (instead, it was "Korea, North" or "Korea,
433       Democratic People's Republic of". I would honor a request to add an
434       alias "North Korea" since that's a very common way to specify the
435       country (please don't request this... I've already added it).
436
437       On the other hand, a request to add Zaire as an alias for "Congo, The
438       Democratic Republic of" will not be honored. The country's official
439       name is no longer Zaire, so adding it as an alias violates the
440       standard.  Zaire was kept as an alias in versions of this module prior
441       to 3.00, but it has been removed. Other aliases (if any) which no
442       longer appear in any standard (and which are not common variations of
443       the name in the standards) have also been removed.
444

RETIRED CODES

446       Occasionally, a code is deprecated, but it may still be desirable to
447       have access to it.
448
449       Although there is no way to see every code that has ever existed and
450       been deprecated (since most codesets do not have that information
451       available), as of version 3.20, every code which has ever been included
452       in these modules can be referenced.
453
454       For more information, refer to the documentation on the code2name,
455       name2code, all_codes, and all_names methods above.
456

SEE ALSO

458       Locale::Codes::Types
459           The list of all code sets available for each type.
460
461       Locale::Codes::Changes
462           A history of changes made to this distribution.
463

KNOWN BUGS AND LIMITATIONS

465       Relationship between code sets
466           Because each code set uses a slightly different list of elements,
467           and they are not necessarily one-to-one, there may be some
468           confusion about the relationship between codes from different code
469           sets.
470
471           For example, ISO 3166 assigns one code to the country "United
472           States Minor Outlying Islands", but the IANA codes give different
473           codes to different islands (Baker Island, Howland Island, etc.).
474
475           This may cause some confusion... I've done the best that I could do
476           to minimize it.
477
478       Non-ASCII characters not supported
479           Currently all names must be all ASCII. I plan on relaxing that
480           limitation in the future.
481

BUGS AND QUESTIONS

483       If you find a bug in Locale::Codes, there are three ways to send it to
484       me.  In order of preference, they are:
485
486       GitHub
487           You can submit it as an issue on GitHub.  This can be done at the
488           following URL:
489
490           <https://github.com/SBECK-github/Locale-Codes>
491
492           This is the preferred method.  Please submit problems requests as
493           GitHub issues if at all possible.
494
495       Direct email
496           You are welcome to send it directly to me by email.  The email
497           address to use is:  sbeck@cpan.org.
498
499           Please note that because cpan.org addresses are published, they are
500           used by a lot of spammers and phishers.  Please include the name of
501           the perl module in the subject line of ALL messages sent to my
502           cpan.org address or it will likely be missed.
503
504       CPAN Bug Tracking
505           You can submit it using the CPAN tracking tool.  This can be done
506           at the following URL:
507
508           <http://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=Locale-Codes>
509
510           There was discussion of halting this service a while back (though
511           it continues to function), so only use this as a last resort.
512
513       Please do not use other means to report bugs (such as forums for a
514       specific OS or Linux distribution) as it is impossible for me to keep
515       up with all of them.  These are the current methods that are guaranteed
516       to notify me.
517
518       When filing a bug report, please include the following information:
519
520       Locale::Codes version
521           Please include the version of Locale::Codes you are using.  You can
522           get this by using the script:
523
524              use Locale::Codes;
525              print $Locale::Codes::VERSION,"\n";
526
527       If you want to report missing or incorrect codes, you must be running
528       the most recent version of Locale::Codes.
529
530       If you find any problems with the documentation (errors, typos, or
531       items that are not clear), please send them to me. I welcome any
532       suggestions that will allow me to improve the documentation.
533

AUTHOR

535       Locale::Country and Locale::Language were originally written by Neil
536       Bowers at the Canon Research Centre Europe (CRE). They maintained the
537       distribution from 1997 to 2001.
538
539       Locale::Currency was originally written by Michael Hennecke and was
540       modified by Neil Bowers for inclusion in the distribution.
541
542       From 2001 to 2004, maintenance was continued by Neil Bowers.  He
543       modified Locale::Currency for inclusion in the distribution. He also
544       added Locale::Script.
545
546       From 2004-2009, the module was unmaintained.
547
548       In 2010, maintenance was taken over by Sullivan Beck (sbeck@cpan.org)
549       with Neil Bower's permission.  All problems or comments should be sent
550       to him using any of the methods listed above.
551
553          Copyright (c) 1997-2001 Canon Research Centre Europe (CRE).
554          Copyright (c) 2001      Michael Hennecke (Locale::Currency)
555          Copyright (c) 2001-2010 Neil Bowers
556          Copyright (c) 2010-2023 Sullivan Beck
557
558       This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
559       under the same terms as Perl itself.
560
561
562
563perl v5.38.0                      2023-07-20                  Locale::Codes(3)
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