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LOCALE

Section: Linux User Manual (5)
Updated: 2017-09-15
Index Return to Main Contents

NAME

locale - describes a locale definition file

DESCRIPTION

The locale definition file contains all the information that the localedef(1) command needs to convert it into the binary locale database.

The definition files consist of sections which each describe a locale category in detail. See locale(7) for additional details for these categories.

Syntax

The locale definition file starts with a header that may consist of the following keywords:

escape_char: is followed by a character that should be used as the escape-character for the rest of the file to mark characters that should be interpreted in a special way. It defaults to the backslash (\).
comment_char: is followed by a character that will be used as the comment-character for the rest of the file. It defaults to the number sign (#).

The locale definition has one part for each locale category. Each part can be copied from another existing locale or can be defined from scratch. If the category should be copied, the only valid keyword in the definition is copy followed by the name of the locale in double quotes which should be copied. The exceptions for this rule are LC_COLLATE and LC_CTYPE where a copy statement can be followed by locale-specific rules and selected overrides.

When defining a locale or a category from scratch, an existing system- provided locale definition file should be used as a reference to follow common glibc conventions.

Locale category sections

The following category sections are defined by POSIX:

*: LC_CTYPE
*: LC_COLLATE
*: LC_MESSAGES
*: LC_MONETARY
*: LC_NUMERIC
*: LC_TIME

In addition, since version 2.2, the GNU C library supports the following nonstandard categories:

*: LC_ADDRESS
*: LC_IDENTIFICATION
*: LC_MEASUREMENT
*: LC_NAME
*: LC_PAPER
*: LC_TELEPHONE

See locale(7) for a more detailed description of each category.

LC_ADDRESS

The definition starts with the string LC_ADDRESS in the first column.

The following keywords are allowed:

postal_fmt

followed by a string containing field descriptors that define the format used for postal addresses in the locale. The following field descriptors are recognized:

%n: Person's name, possibly constructed with the LC_NAME name_fmt keyword (since glibc 2.24).
%a: Care of person, or organization.
%f: Firm name.
%d: Department name.
%b: Building name.
%s: Street or block (e.g., Japanese) name.
%h: House number or designation.
%N: Insert an end-of-line if the previous descriptor's value was not an empty string; otherwise ignore.
%t: Insert a space if the previous descriptor's value was not an empty string; otherwise ignore.
%r: Room number, door designation.
%e: Floor number.
%C: Country designation, from the country_post keyword.
%l: Local township within town or city (since glibc 2.24).
%z: Zip number, postal code.
%T: Town, city.
%S: State, province, or prefecture.
%c: Country, as taken from data record.

Each field descriptor may have an aqRaq after the aq%aq to specify that the information is taken from a Romanized version string of the entity.

country_name

followed by the country name in the language of the current document (e.g., "Deutschland" for the de_DE locale).

country_post

followed by the abbreviation of the country (see CERT_MAILCODES).

country_ab2

followed by the two-letter abbreviation of the country (ISO 3166).

country_ab3

followed by the three-letter abbreviation of the country (ISO 3166).

country_num

followed by the numeric country code (ISO 3166).

country_car

followed by the international licence plate country code.

country_isbn

followed by the ISBN code (for books).

lang_name

followed by the language name in the language of the current document.

lang_ab

followed by the two-letter abbreviation of the language (ISO 639).

lang_term

followed by the three-letter abbreviation of the language (ISO 639-2/T).

lang_lib

followed by the three-letter abbreviation of the language for library use (ISO 639-2/B). Applications should in general prefer lang_term over lang_lib.

The LC_ADDRESS definition ends with the string END LC_ADDRESS.

LC_CTYPE

The definition starts with the string LC_CTYPE in the first column.

The following keywords are allowed:

upper: followed by a list of uppercase letters. The letters A through Z are included automatically. Characters also specified as cntrl, digit, punct, or space are not allowed.
lower: followed by a list of lowercase letters. The letters a through z are included automatically. Characters also specified as cntrl, digit, punct, or space are not allowed.
alpha: followed by a list of letters. All character specified as either upper or lower are automatically included. Characters also specified as cntrl, digit, punct, or space are not allowed.
digit: followed by the characters classified as numeric digits. Only the digits 0 through 9 are allowed. They are included by default in this class.
space: followed by a list of characters defined as white-space characters. Characters also specified as upper, lower, alpha, digit, graph, or xdigit are not allowed. The characters <space>, <form-feed>, <newline>, <carriage-return>, <tab>, and <vertical-tab> are automatically included.
cntrl: followed by a list of control characters. Characters also specified as upper, lower, alpha, digit, punct, graph, print, or xdigit are not allowed.
punct: followed by a list of punctuation characters. Characters also specified as upper, lower, alpha, digit, cntrl, xdigit, or the <space> character are not allowed.
graph: followed by a list of printable characters, not including the <space> character. The characters defined as upper, lower, alpha, digit, xdigit, and punct are automatically included. Characters also specified as cntrl are not allowed.
print: followed by a list of printable characters, including the <space> character. The characters defined as upper, lower, alpha, digit, xdigit, punct, and the <space> character are automatically included. Characters also specified as cntrl are not allowed.
xdigit: followed by a list of characters classified as hexadecimal digits. The decimal digits must be included followed by one or more set of six characters in ascending order. The following characters are included by default: 0 through 9, a through f, A through F.
blank: followed by a list of characters classified as blank. The characters <space> and <tab> are automatically included.
charclass: followed by a list of locale-specific character class names which are then to be defined in the locale.
toupper: followed by a list of mappings from lowercase to uppercase letters. Each mapping is a pair of a lowercase and an uppercase letter separated with a , and enclosed in parentheses.
tolower: followed by a list of mappings from uppercase to lowercase letters. If the keyword tolower is not present, the reverse of the toupper list is used.
map totitle: followed by a list of mapping pairs of characters and letters to be used in titles (headings).
class: followed by a locale-specific character class definition, starting with the class name followed by the characters belonging to the class.
charconv: followed by a list of locale-specific character mapping names which are then to be defined in the locale.
outdigit: followed by a list of alternate output digits for the locale.
map to_inpunct: followed by a list of mapping pairs of alternate digits and separators for input digits for the locale.
map to_outpunct: followed by a list of mapping pairs of alternate separators for output for the locale.
translit_start: marks the start of the transliteration rules section. The section can contain the include keyword in the beginning followed by locale-specific rules and overrides. Any rule specified in the locale file will override any rule copied or included from other files. In case of duplicate rule definitions in the locale file, only the first rule is used.
: A transliteration rule consist of a character to be transliterated followed by a list of transliteration targets separated by semicolons. The first target which can be presented in the target character set is used, if none of them can be used the default_missing character will be used instead.
include: in the transliteration rules section includes a transliteration rule file (and optionally a repertoire map file).
default_missing: in the transliteration rules section defines the default character to be used for transliteration where none of the targets cannot be presented in the target character set.
translit_end: marks the end of the transliteration rules.

The LC_CTYPE definition ends with the string END LC_CTYPE.

LC_COLLATE

Note that glibc does not support all POSIX-defined options, only the options described below are supported (as of glibc 2.23).

The definition starts with the string LC_COLLATE in the first column.

The following keywords are allowed:

coll_weight_max: followed by the number representing used collation levels. This keyword is recognized but ignored by glibc.
collating-element: followed by the definition of a collating-element symbol representing a multicharacter collating element.
collating-symbol: followed by the definition of a collating symbol that can be used in collation order statements.
define: followed by string to be evaluated in an ifdef string / else / endif construct.
reorder-after: followed by a redefinition of a collation rule.
reorder-end: marks the end of the redefinition of a collation rule.
reorder-sections-after: followed by a script name to reorder listed scripts after.
reorder-sections-end: marks the end of the reordering of sections.
script: followed by a declaration of a script.
symbol-equivalence: followed by a collating-symbol to be equivalent to another defined collating-symbol.

The collation rule definition starts with a line:

order_start: followed by a list of keywords chosen from forward, backward, or position. The order definition consists of lines that describe the collation order and is terminated with the keyword order_end.

The LC_COLLATE definition ends with the string END LC_COLLATE.

LC_IDENTIFICATION

The definition starts with the string LC_IDENTIFICATION in the first column.

The following keywords are allowed:

title: followed by the title of the locale document (e.g., "Maori language locale for New Zealand").
source: followed by the name of the organization that maintains this document.
address: followed by the address of the organization that maintains this document.
contact: followed by the name of the contact person at the organization that maintains this document.
email: followed by the email address of the person or organization that maintains this document.
tel: followed by the telephone number (in international format) of the organization that maintains this document. As of glibc 2.24, this keyword is deprecated in favor of other contact methods.
fax: followed by the fax number (in international format) of the organization that maintains this document. As of glibc 2.24, this keyword is deprecated in favor of other contact methods.
language: followed by the name of the language to which this document applies.
territory: followed by the name of the country/geographic extent to which this document applies.
audience: followed by a description of the audience for which this document is intended.
application: followed by a description of any special application for which this document is intended.
abbreviation: followed by the short name for provider of the source of this document.
revision: followed by the revision number of this document.
date: followed by the revision date of this document.

In addition, for each of the categories defined by the document, there should be a line starting with the keyword category, followed by:

*: a string that identifies this locale category definition,
*: a semicolon, and
*: one of the LC_* identifiers.

The LC_IDENTIFICATION definition ends with the string END LC_IDENTIFICATION.

LC_MESSAGES

The definition starts with the string LC_MESSAGES in the first column.

The following keywords are allowed:

yesexpr: followed by a regular expression that describes possible yes-responses.
noexpr: followed by a regular expression that describes possible no-responses.
yesstr: followed by the output string corresponding to "yes".
nostr: followed by the output string corresponding to "no".

The LC_MESSAGES definition ends with the string END LC_MESSAGES.

LC_MEASUREMENT

The definition starts with the string LC_MEASUREMENT in the first column.

The following keywords are allowed:

measurement

followed by number identifying the standard used for measurement. The following values are recognized:

1: Metric.
2: US customary measurements.

The LC_MEASUREMENT definition ends with the string END LC_MEASUREMENT.

LC_MONETARY

The definition starts with the string LC_MONETARY in the first column.

The following keywords are allowed:

int_curr_symbol

followed by the international currency symbol. This must be a 4-character string containing the international currency symbol as defined by the ISO 4217 standard (three characters) followed by a separator.

currency_symbol

followed by the local currency symbol.

mon_decimal_point

followed by the string that will be used as the decimal delimiter when formatting monetary quantities.

mon_thousands_sep

followed by the string that will be used as a group separator when formatting monetary quantities.

mon_grouping

followed by a sequence of integers separated by semicolons that describe the formatting of monetary quantities. See grouping below for details.

positive_sign

followed by a string that is used to indicate a positive sign for monetary quantities.

negative_sign

followed by a string that is used to indicate a negative sign for monetary quantities.

int_frac_digits

followed by the number of fractional digits that should be used when formatting with the int_curr_symbol.

frac_digits

followed by the number of fractional digits that should be used when formatting with the currency_symbol.

p_cs_precedes

followed by an integer that indicates the placement of currency_symbol for a nonnegative formatted monetary quantity:

0: the symbol succeeds the value.
1: the symbol precedes the value.

p_sep_by_space

followed by an integer that indicates the separation of currency_symbol, the sign string, and the value for a nonnegative formatted monetary quantity. The following values are recognized:

0: No space separates the currency symbol and the value.
1: If the currency symbol and the sign string are adjacent, a space separates them from the value; otherwise a space separates the currency symbol and the value.
2: If the currency symbol and the sign string are adjacent, a space separates them from the value; otherwise a space separates the sign string and the value.

n_cs_precedes

followed by an integer that indicates the placement of currency_symbol for a negative formatted monetary quantity. The same values are recognized as for p_cs_precedes.

n_sep_by_space

followed by an integer that indicates the separation of currency_symbol, the sign string, and the value for a negative formatted monetary quantity. The same values are recognized as for p_sep_by_space.

p_sign_posn

followed by an integer that indicates where the positive_sign should be placed for a nonnegative monetary quantity:

0: Parentheses enclose the quantity and the currency_symbol or int_curr_symbol.
1: The sign string precedes the quantity and the currency_symbol or the int_curr_symbol.
2: The sign string succeeds the quantity and the currency_symbol or the int_curr_symbol.
3: The sign string precedes the currency_symbol or the int_curr_symbol.
4: The sign string succeeds the currency_symbol or the int_curr_symbol.

n_sign_posn

followed by an integer that indicates where the negative_sign should be placed for a negative monetary quantity. The same values are recognized as for p_sign_posn.

int_p_cs_precedes

followed by an integer that indicates the placement of int_curr_symbol for a nonnegative internationally formatted monetary quantity. The same values are recognized as for p_cs_precedes.

int_n_cs_precedes

followed by an integer that indicates the placement of int_curr_symbol for a negative internationally formatted monetary quantity. The same values are recognized as for p_cs_precedes.

int_p_sep_by_space

followed by an integer that indicates the separation of int_curr_symbol, the sign string, and the value for a nonnegative internationally formatted monetary quantity. The same values are recognized as for p_sep_by_space.

int_n_sep_by_space

followed by an integer that indicates the separation of int_curr_symbol, the sign string, and the value for a negative internationally formatted monetary quantity. The same values are recognized as for p_sep_by_space.

int_p_sign_posn

followed by an integer that indicates where the positive_sign should be placed for a nonnegative internationally formatted monetary quantity. The same values are recognized as for p_sign_posn.

int_n_sign_posn

followed by an integer that indicates where the negative_sign should be placed for a negative internationally formatted monetary quantity. The same values are recognized as for p_sign_posn.

The LC_MONETARY definition ends with the string END LC_MONETARY.

LC_NAME

The definition starts with the string LC_NAME in the first column.

Various keywords are allowed, but only name_fmt is mandatory. Other keywords are needed only if there is common convention to use the corresponding salutation in this locale. The allowed keywords are as follows:

name_fmt

followed by a string containing field descriptors that define the format used for names in the locale. The following field descriptors are recognized:

%f: Family name(s).
%F: Family names in uppercase.
%g: First given name.
%G: First given initial.
%l: First given name with Latin letters.
%o: Other shorter name.
%m: Additional given name(s).
%M: Initials for additional given name(s).
%p: Profession.
%s: Salutation, such as "Doctor".
%S: Abbreviated salutation, such as "Mr." or "Dr.".
%d: Salutation, using the FDCC-sets conventions.
%t: If the preceding field descriptor resulted in an empty string, then the empty string, otherwise a space character.

name_gen

followed by the general salutation for any gender.

name_mr

followed by the salutation for men.

name_mrs

followed by the salutation for married women.

name_miss

followed by the salutation for unmarried women.

name_ms

followed by the salutation valid for all women.

The LC_NAME definition ends with the string END LC_NAME.

LC_NUMERIC

The definition starts with the string LC_NUMERIC in the first column.

The following keywords are allowed:

decimal_point: followed by the string that will be used as the decimal delimiter when formatting numeric quantities.
thousands_sep: followed by the string that will be used as a group separator when formatting numeric quantities.
grouping: followed by a sequence of integers separated by semicolons that describe the formatting of numeric quantities.
: Each integer specifies the number of digits in a group. The first integer defines the size of the group immediately to the left of the decimal delimiter. Subsequent integers define succeeding groups to the left of the previous group. If the last integer is not -1, then the size of the previous group (if any) is repeatedly used for the remainder of the digits. If the last integer is -1, then no further grouping is performed.

The LC_NUMERIC definition ends with the string END LC_NUMERIC.

LC_PAPER

The definition starts with the string LC_PAPER in the first column.

The following keywords are allowed:

height: followed by the height, in millimeters, of the standard paper format.
width: followed by the width, in millimeters, of the standard paper format.

The LC_PAPER definition ends with the string END LC_PAPER.

LC_TELEPHONE

The definition starts with the string LC_TELEPHONE in the first column.

The following keywords are allowed:

tel_int_fmt

followed by a string that contains field descriptors that identify the format used to dial international numbers. The following field descriptors are recognized:

%a: Area code without nationwide prefix (the prefix is often "00").
%A: Area code including nationwide prefix.
%l: Local number (within area code).
%e: Extension (to local number).
%c: Country code.
%C: Alternate carrier service code used for dialing abroad.
%t: If the preceding field descriptor resulted in an empty string, then the empty string, otherwise a space character.

tel_dom_fmt

followed by a string that contains field descriptors that identify the format used to dial domestic numbers. The recognized field descriptors are the same as for tel_int_fmt.

int_select

followed by the prefix used to call international phone numbers.

int_prefix

followed by the prefix used from other countries to dial this country.

The LC_TELEPHONE definition ends with the string END LC_TELEPHONE.

LC_TIME

The definition starts with the string LC_TIME in the first column.

The following keywords are allowed:

abday

followed by a list of abbreviated names of the days of the week. The list starts with the first day of the week as specified by week (Sunday by default). See NOTES.

day

followed by a list of names of the days of the week. The list starts with the first day of the week as specified by week (Sunday by default). See NOTES.

abmon

followed by a list of abbreviated month names.

mon

followed by a list of month names.

d_t_fmt

followed by the appropriate date and time format (for syntax, see strftime(3)).

d_fmt

followed by the appropriate date format (for syntax, see strftime(3)).

t_fmt

followed by the appropriate time format (for syntax, see strftime(3)).

am_pm

followed by the appropriate representation of the am and pm strings. This should be left empty for locales not using AM/PM convention.

t_fmt_ampm

followed by the appropriate time format (for syntax, see strftime(3)) when using 12h clock format. This should be left empty for locales not using AM/PM convention.

era

followed by semicolon-separated strings that define how years are counted and displayed for each era in the locale. Each string has the following format:

direction:offset:start_date:end_date:era_name:era_format

The fields are to be defined as follows:

direction: Either + or -. + means the years closer to start_date have lower numbers than years closer to end_date. - means the opposite.
offset: The number of the year closest to start_date in the era, corresponding to the %Ey descriptor (see strptime(3)).
start_date: The start of the era in the form of yyyy/mm/dd. Years prior AD 1 are represented as negative numbers.
end_date: The end of the era in the form of yyyy/mm/dd, or one of the two special values of -* or +*. -* means the ending date is the beginning of time. +* means the ending date is the end of time.
era_name: The name of the era corresponding to the %EC descriptor (see strptime(3)).
era_format: The format of the year in the era corresponding to the %EY descriptor (see strptime(3)).

era_d_fmt

followed by the format of the date in alternative era notation, corresponding to the %Ex descriptor (see strptime(3)).

era_t_fmt

followed by the format of the time in alternative era notation, corresponding to the %EX descriptor (see strptime(3)).

era_d_t_fmt

followed by the format of the date and time in alternative era notation, corresponding to the %Ec descriptor (see strptime(3)).

alt_digits

followed by the alternative digits used for date and time in the locale.

week

followed by a list of three values separated by semicolons: The number of days in a week (by default 7), a date of beginning of the week (by default corresponds to Sunday), and the minimal length of the first week in year (by default 4). Regarding the start of the week, 19971130 shall be used for Sunday and 19971201 shall be used for Monday. See NOTES.

first_weekday (since glibc 2.2)

followed by the number of the first day from the day list to be shown in calendar applications. The default value of 1 corresponds to either Sunday or Monday depending on the value of the second week list item. See NOTES.

first_workday (since glibc 2.2)

followed by the number of the first working day from the day list. The default value is 2. See NOTES.

cal_direction

followed by a number value that indicates the direction for the display of calendar dates, as follows:

1: Left-right from top.
2: Top-down from left.
3: Right-left from top.

date_fmt

followed by the appropriate date representation for date(1) (for syntax, see strftime(3)).

The LC_TIME definition ends with the string END LC_TIME.

FILES

/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive: Usual default locale archive location.
/usr/share/i18n/locales: Usual default path for locale definition files.

CONFORMING TO

POSIX.2.

NOTES

The collective GNU C library community wisdom regarding abday, day, week, first_weekday, and first_workday states at https://sourceware.org/glibc/wiki/Locales the following:

*: The value of the second week list item specifies the base of the abday and day lists.
*: first_weekday specifies the offset of the first day-of-week in the abday and day lists.
*: For compatibility reasons, all glibc locales should set the value of the second week list item to 19971130 (Sunday) and base the abday and day lists appropriately, and set first_weekday and first_workday to 1 or 2, depending on whether the week and work week actually starts on Sunday or Monday for the locale.

COLOPHON

This page is part of release 4.13 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of this page, can be found at https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.