|
SETLOCALE (3) | C library functions | Unix Manual Pages | :man▋
NAME
setlocale - natural language formatting for C
CONTENTS
Library
Synopsis
Description
Return Values
Files
Errors
See Also
Standards
History
LIBRARY
.Lb libc
SYNOPSIS
.In locale.h char * setlocale "int category" "const char *locale"
DESCRIPTION
The setlocale function sets the C library’s notion of natural language formatting style for particular sets of routines. Each such style is called a 'locale' and is invoked using an appropriate name passed as a C string. The setlocale function recognizes several categories of routines. These are the categories and the sets of routines they select: | LC_ALL | Set the entire locale generically. | | LC_COLLATE | Set a locale for string collation routines. This controls alphabetic ordering in strcoll and strxfrm. | | LC_CTYPE | Set a locale for the ctype(3) and multibyte(3) functions. This controls recognition of upper and lower case, alphabetic or non-alphabetic characters, and so on. | | LC_MESSAGES | | | Set a locale for message catalogs, see catopen(3) function. | | LC_MONETARY | | | Set a locale for formatting monetary values; this affects the localeconv function. | | LC_NUMERIC | Set a locale for formatting numbers. This controls the formatting of decimal points in input and output of floating point numbers in functions such as printf and scanf, as well as values returned by localeconv. | | LC_TIME | Set a locale for formatting dates and times using the strftime function. | |
Only three locales are defined by default, the empty string "" "" " which denotes the native environment, and the "" "C" " and "" "POSIX" " locales, which denote the C language environment. A locale argument of NULL causes setlocale to return the current locale. By default, C programs start in the "" "C" " locale. The only function in the library that sets the locale is setlocale; the locale is never changed as a side effect of some other routine.
RETURN VALUES
Upon successful completion, setlocale returns the string associated with the specified category for the requested locale. The setlocale function returns NULL and fails to change the locale if the given combination of category and locale makes no sense.
FILES
$PATH_LOCALE/ locale/category
/usr/share/locale/ locale/category | | | locale file for the locale locale and the category category. | |
ERRORS
No errors are defined.
SEE ALSO
colldef(1), mklocale(1), catopen(3), ctype(3), localeconv(3), multibyte(3), strcoll(3), strxfrm(3), euc(5), utf8(5), environ(7)
STANDARDS
HISTORY
|
