locale(1)

1LOCALE(1)                      Linux User Manual                     LOCALE(1)
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NAME

6       locale - get locale-specific information
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SYNOPSIS

9       locale [option]
10       locale [option] -a
11       locale [option] -m
12       locale [option] name...
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DESCRIPTION

15       The  locale  command  displays information about the current locale, or
16       all locales, on standard output.
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18       When invoked without arguments, locale displays the current locale set‐
19       tings  for  each locale category (see locale(5)), based on the settings
20       of the environment variables that control the locale  (see  locale(7)).
21       Values  for variables set in the environment are printed without double
22       quotes, implied values are printed with double quotes.
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24       If either the -a or the -m option (or one of their long-format  equiva‐
25       lents) is specified, the behavior is as follows:
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27       -a, --all-locales
28              Display  a  list of all available locales.  The -v option causes
29              the LC_IDENTIFICATION metadata about each locale to be  included
30              in the output.
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32       -m, --charmaps
33              Display   the  available  charmaps  (character  set  description
34              files).  To display the current character set  for  the  locale,
35              use locale -c charmap.
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37       The  locale  command  can  also be provided with one or more arguments,
38       which  are  the  names  of  locale  keywords  (for  example,  date_fmt,
39       ctype-class-names, yesexpr, or decimal_point) or locale categories (for
40       example, LC_CTYPE or LC_TIME).  For each  argument,  the  following  is
41       displayed:
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43       *  For a locale keyword, the value of that keyword to be displayed.
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45       *  For  a  locale category, the values of all keywords in that category
46          are displayed.
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48       When arguments are supplied, the following options are meaningful:
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50       -c, --category-name
51              For a category name argument, write the name of the locale cate‐
52              gory on a separate line preceding the list of keyword values for
53              that category.
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55              For a keyword name argument, write the name of the locale  cate‐
56              gory  for  this keyword on a separate line preceding the keyword
57              value.
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59              This option improves readability when  multiple  name  arguments
60              are specified.  It can be combined with the -k option.
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62       -k, --keyword-name
63              For  each  keyword  whose value is being displayed, include also
64              the name of that keyword, so that the output has the format:
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66                  keyword="value"
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68       The locale command also knows about the following options:
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70       -v, --verbose
71              Display additional information for some command-line option  and
72              argument combinations.
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74       -?, --help
75              Display  a  summary  of  command-line  options and arguments and
76              exit.
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78       --usage
79              Display a short usage message and exit.
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81       -V, --version
82              Display the program version and exit.
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FILES

85       /usr/lib/locale/locale-archive
86              Usual default locale archive location.
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88       /usr/share/i18n/locales
89              Usual default path for locale definition files.
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CONFORMING TO

92       POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008.
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EXAMPLES

95       $ locale
96       LANG=en_US.UTF-8
97       LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
98       LC_NUMERIC="en_US.UTF-8"
99       LC_TIME="en_US.UTF-8"
100       LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
101       LC_MONETARY="en_US.UTF-8"
102       LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
103       LC_PAPER="en_US.UTF-8"
104       LC_NAME="en_US.UTF-8"
105       LC_ADDRESS="en_US.UTF-8"
106       LC_TELEPHONE="en_US.UTF-8"
107       LC_MEASUREMENT="en_US.UTF-8"
108       LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.UTF-8"
109       LC_ALL=
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111       $ locale date_fmt
112       %a %b %e %H:%M:%S %Z %Y
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114       $ locale -k date_fmt
115       date_fmt="%a %b %e %H:%M:%S %Z %Y"
116
117       $ locale -ck date_fmt
118       LC_TIME
119       date_fmt="%a %b %e %H:%M:%S %Z %Y"
120
121       $ locale LC_TELEPHONE
122       +%c (%a) %l
123       (%a) %l
124       11
125       1
126       UTF-8
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128       $ locale -k LC_TELEPHONE
129       tel_int_fmt="+%c (%a) %l"
130       tel_dom_fmt="(%a) %l"
131       int_select="11"
132       int_prefix="1"
133       telephone-codeset="UTF-8"
134
135       The following example compiles a custom locale from the ./wrk directory
136       with  the  localedef(1) utility under the $HOME/.locale directory, then
137       tests the result with the date(1) command, and then sets  the  environ‐
138       ment  variables  LOCPATH and LANG in the shell profile file so that the
139       custom locale will be used in the subsequent user sessions:
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141       $ mkdir -p $HOME/.locale
142       $ I18NPATH=./wrk/ localedef -f UTF-8 -i fi_SE $HOME/.locale/fi_SE.UTF-8
143       $ LOCPATH=$HOME/.locale LC_ALL=fi_SE.UTF-8 date
144       $ echo "export LOCPATH=\$HOME/.locale" >> $HOME/.bashrc
145       $ echo "export LANG=fi_SE.UTF-8" >> $HOME/.bashrc
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COLOPHON

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158Linux                             2021-03-22                         LOCALE(1)