1LOCALE(5) Linux User Manual LOCALE(5)
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6 locale - Describes a locale definition file
7
9 The locale definition files contains all the information that the
10 localedef(1) command needs to convert it into the binary locale data‐
11 base.
12 The definition files consist of sections which each describe a locale
14 category in detail.
15 Syntax
17 The locale definition file starts with a header that may consist of the
18 following keywords:
19 <escape_char>
21 is followed by a character that should be used as the escape-
22 character for the rest of the file to mark characters that
23 should be interpreted in a special way. It defaults to the
24 backslash (\).
25 <comment_char>
27 is followed by a character that will be used as the comment-
28 character for the rest of the file. It defaults to the number
29 sign (#).
30 The locale definition has one part for each locale category. Each part
32 can be copied from another existing locale or can be defined from
33 scratch. If the category should be copied, the only valid keyword in
34 the definition is copy followed by the name of the locale which should
35 be copied.
36 LC_CTYPE
38 The definition for the LC_CTYPE category starts with the string
39 LC_CTYPE in the first column.
40 There are the following keywords allowed:
42 upper followed by a list of uppercase letters. The letters A through
44 Z are included automatically. Characters also specified as
45 cntrl, digit, punct, or space are not allowed.
46 lower followed by a list of lowercase letters. The letters a through
48 z are included automatically. Characters also specified as
49 cntrl, digit, punct, or space are not allowed.
50 alpha followed by a list of letters. All character specified as
52 either upper or lower are automatically included. Characters
53 also specified as cntrl, digit, punct, or space are not allowed.
54 digit followed by the characters classified as numeric digits. Only
56 the digits 0 through 9 are allowed. They are included by
57 default in this class.
58 space followed by a list of characters defined as white-space charac‐
60 ters. Characters also specified as upper, lower, alpha, digit,
61 graph, or xdigit are not allowed. The characters <space>,
62 <form-feed>, <newline>, <carriage-return>, <tab>, and <vertical-
63 tab> are automatically included.
64 cntrl followed by a list of control characters. Characters also spec‐
66 ified as upper, lower, alpha, digit, punct, graph, print, or
67 xdigit are not allowed.
68 punct followed by a list of punctuation characters. Characters also
70 specified as upper, lower, alpha, digit, cntrl, xdigit, or the
71 <space> character are not allowed.
72 graph followed by a list of printable characters, not including the
74 <space> character. The characters defined as upper, lower,
75 alpha, digit, xdigit, and punct are automatically included.
76 Characters also specified as cntrl are not allowed.
77 print followed by a list of printable characters, including the
79 <space> character. The characters defined as upper, lower,
80 alpha, digit, xdigit, punct, and the <space> character are auto‐
81 matically included. Characters also specified as cntrl are not
82 allowed.
83 xdigit followed by a list of characters classified as hexadecimal dig‐
85 its. The decimal digits must be included followed by one or
86 more set of six characters in ascending order. The following
87 characters are included by default: 0 through 9, a through f, A
88 through F.
89 blank followed by a list of characters classified as blank. The char‐
91 acters <space> and <tab> are automatically included.
92 toupper
94 followed by a list of mappings from lowercase to uppercase let‐
95 ters. Each mapping is a pair of a lowercase and an uppercase
96 letter separated with a , and enclosed in parentheses. The mem‐
97 bers of the list are separated with semicolons.
98 tolower
100 followed by a list of mappings from uppercase to lowercase let‐
101 ters. If the keyword tolower is not present, the reverse of the
102 toupper list is used.
103 The LC_CTYPE definition ends with the string END LC_CYTPE.
105 LC_COLLATE
107 The LC_COLLATE category defines the rules for collating characters.
108 Due to limitations of libc not all POSIX-options are implemented.
109 The definition starts with the string LC_COLLATE in the first column.
111 There are the following keywords allowed:
113 collating-element
115 collating-symbol
117 The order-definition starts with a line:
119 order_start
121 followed by a list of keywords out of forward, backward, or position.
123 The order definition consists of lines that describe the order and is
124 terminated with the keyword
125 order_end.
127 For more details see the sources in /usr/lib/nls/src notably the exam‐
129 ples POSIX, Example and Example2
130 The LC_COLLATE definition ends with the string END LC_COLLATE.
132 LC_MONETARY
134 The definition starts with the string LC_MONETARY in the first column.
135 There are the following keywords allowed:
137 int_curr_symbol
139 followed by the international currency symbol. This must be a
140 4-character string containing the international currency symbol
141 as defined by the ISO 4217 standard (three characters) followed
142 by a separator.
143 currency_symbol
145 followed by the local currency symbol.
146 mon_decimal_point
148 followed by the string that will be used as the decimal delim‐
149 iter when formatting monetary quantities.
150 mon_thousands_sep
152 followed by the string that will be used as a group separator
153 when formatting monetary quantities.
154 mon_grouping
156 followed by a string that describes the formatting of numeric
157 quantities.
158 positive_sign
160 followed by a string that is used to indicate a positive sign
161 for monetary quantities.
162 negative_sign
164 followed by a string that is used to indicate a negative sign
165 for monetary quantities.
166 int_frac_digits
168 followed by the number of fractional digits that should be used
169 when formatting with the int_curr_symbol.
170 frac_digits
172 followed by the number of fractional digits that should be used
173 when formatting with the currency_symbol.
174 p_cs_precedes
176 followed by an integer set to 1 if the currency_symbol or
177 int_curr_symbol should precede the formatted monetary quantity
178 or set to 0 if the symbol succeeds the value.
179 p_sep_by_space
181 followed by an integer.
182 0 means that no space should be printed between the symbol
184 and the value.
185 1 means that a space should be printed between the symbol
187 and the value.
188 2 means that a space should be printed between the symbol
190 and the sign string, if adjacent.
191 n_cs_precedes
193 0 - the symbol succeeds the value.
195 1 - the symbol precedes the value.
197 n_sep_by_space
199 An integer set to 0 if no space separates the currency_symbol or
200 int_curr_symbol from the value for a negative monetary quantity,
201 set to 1 if a space separates the symbol from the value and set
202 to 2 if a space separates the symbol and the sign string, if
203 adjacent.
204 p_sign_posn
206 0 Parentheses enclose the quantity and the currency_symbol
208 or int_curr_symbol.
209 1 The sign string precedes the quantity and the cur‐
211 rency_symbol or the int_curr_symbol.
212 2 The sign string succeeds the quantity and the cur‐
214 rency_symbol or the int_curr_symbol.
215 3 The sign string precedes the currency_symbol or the
217 int_curr_symbol.
218 4 The sign string succeeds the currency_symbol or the
220 int_curr_symbol.
221 n_sign_posn
223 0 Parentheses enclose the quantity and the currency_symbol
225 or int_curr_symbol.
226 1 The sign string precedes the quantity and the cur‐
228 rency_symbol or the int_curr_symbol.
229 2 The sign string succeeds the quantity and the cur‐
231 rency_symbol or the int_curr_symbol.
232 3 The sign string precedes the currency_symbol or the
234 int_curr_symbol.
235 4 The sign string succeeds the currency_symbol or the
237 int_curr_symbol.
238 The LC_MONETARY definition ends with the string END LC_MONETARY.
240 LC_NUMERIC
242 The definition starts with the string LC_NUMERIC in the first column.
243 The following keywords are allowed:
245 decimal_point
247 followed by the string that will be used as the decimal delim‐
248 iter when formatting numeric quantities.
249 thousands_sep
251 followed by the string that will be used as a group separator
252 when formatting numeric quantities.
253 grouping
255 followed by a string that describes the formatting of numeric
256 quantities.
257 The LC_NUMERIC definition ends with the string END LC_NUMERIC.
259 LC_TIME
261 The definition starts with the string LC_TIME in the first column.
262 The following keywords are allowed:
264 abday followed by a list of abbreviated weekday names. The list
266 starts with the first day of the week as specified by week (Sun‐
267 day by default).
268 day followed by a list of weekday names. The list starts with the
270 first day of the week as specified by week (Sunday by default).
271 abmon followed by a list of abbreviated month names.
273 mon followed by a list of month names.
275 am_pm The appropriate representation of the am and pm strings.
277 d_t_fmt
279 The appropriate date and time format.
280 d_fmt The appropriate date format.
282 t_fmt The appropriate time format.
284 t_fmt_ampm
286 The appropriate time format when using 12h clock format.
287 week followed by a list of three values: The number of days in a week
289 (by default 7), a date of beginning of the week (by default cor‐
290 responds to Sunday), and the minimal length of the first week in
291 year (by default 4). Regarding the start of the week, 19971130
292 shall be used for Sunday and 19971201 shall be used for Monday.
293 Thus, countries using 19971130 should have local Sunday name as
294 the first day in the day list, while countries using 19971201
295 should have Monday translation as the first item in the day
296 list.
297 first_weekday (since glibc 2.2)
299 Number of the first day from the day list to be shown in calen‐
300 dar applications. The default value of 1 corresponds to either
301 Sunday or Monday depending on the value of the second week list
302 item.
303 first_workday (since glibc 2.2)
305 Number of the first working day from the day list.
306 The LC_TIME definition ends with the string END LC_TIME.
308 LC_MESSAGES
310 The definition starts with the string LC_MESSAGES in the first column.
311 The following keywords are allowed:
313 yesexpr
315 followed by a regular expression that describes possible yes-
316 responses.
317 noexpr followed by a regular expression that describes possible no-
319 responses.
320 The LC_MESSAGES definition ends with the string END LC_MESSAGES.
322 See the POSIX.2 standard for details.
324
326 /usr/lib/locale/ — database for the current locale setting of that cat‐
327 egory
328 /usr/lib/nls/charmap/* — charmap-files
329
331 POSIX.2, ISO/IEC 14652.
332
334 This manual page isn't complete.
335
337 locale(1), localedef(1), localeconv(3), setlocale(3), charmap(5)
338
340 This page is part of release 3.22 of the Linux man-pages project. A
341 description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can
342 be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
343Linux 2008-06-17 LOCALE(5)