locale(5) — Linux manual page

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locale(5)                  File Formats Manual                 locale(5)

NAME         top

       locale - describes a locale definition file

DESCRIPTION         top

       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_CTYPELC_COLLATELC_MESSAGESLC_MONETARYLC_NUMERICLC_TIME

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

       •  LC_ADDRESSLC_IDENTIFICATIONLC_MEASUREMENTLC_NAMELC_PAPERLC_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 'R' after the '%' 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 license 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:

       (1)  a string that identifies this locale category definition,

       (2)  a semicolon, and

       (3)  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 single-character string that will be used
              as the decimal delimiter when formatting monetary
              quantities.

       mon_thousands_sep
              followed by the single-character 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 single-character string that will be used
              as the decimal delimiter when formatting numeric
              quantities.

       thousands_sep
              followed by the single-character 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 day from the day list to be
              shown as the first day of the week 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         top

       /usr/lib/locale/locale-archive
              Usual default locale archive location.

       /usr/share/i18n/locales
              Usual default path for locale definition files.

STANDARDS         top

       POSIX.2.

NOTES         top

       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.

SEE ALSO         top

       iconv(1), locale(1), localedef(1), localeconv(3), newlocale(3),
       setlocale(3), strftime(3), strptime(3), uselocale(3), charmap(5),
       charsets(7), locale(7), unicode(7), utf-8(7)

COLOPHON         top

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Linux man-pages 6.9.1          2024-06-15                      locale(5)

Pages that refer to this page: locale(1)localedef(1)duplocale(3)locale_t(3type)newlocale(3)printf(3)uselocale(3)charmap(5)repertoiremap(5)locale(7)