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@(#)setlocale.3 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/9/93
$FreeBSD: head/lib/libc/locale/setlocale.3 210765 2010-08-02 13:11:41Z uqs $
.Dd November 21, 2003 .Dt SETLOCALE 3 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm setlocale .Nd natural language formatting for C .Sh LIBRARY .Lb libc .Sh SYNOPSIS n locale.h .Ft char * .Fn setlocale "int category" "const char *locale" .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Fn setlocale function sets the C library's notion of natural language formatting style for particular sets of routines. Each such style is called a .Sq locale and is invoked using an appropriate name passed as a C string.
p The .Fn setlocale function recognizes several categories of routines. These are the categories and the sets of routines they select:
p l -tag -width LC_MONETARY t Dv LC_ALL Set the entire locale generically. t Dv LC_COLLATE Set a locale for string collation routines. This controls alphabetic ordering in .Fn strcoll and .Fn strxfrm . t Dv LC_CTYPE Set a locale for the .Xr ctype 3 and .Xr multibyte 3 functions. This controls recognition of upper and lower case, alphabetic or non-alphabetic characters, and so on. t Dv LC_MESSAGES Set a locale for message catalogs, see .Xr catopen 3 function. t Dv LC_MONETARY Set a locale for formatting monetary values; this affects the .Fn localeconv function. t Dv 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 .Fn printf and .Fn scanf , as well as values returned by .Fn localeconv . t Dv LC_TIME Set a locale for formatting dates and times using the .Fn strftime function. .El
p Only three locales are defined by default, the empty string .Li "\|" which denotes the native environment, and the .Li "C" and .Li "POSIX" locales, which denote the C language environment. A .Fa locale argument of .Dv NULL causes .Fn setlocale to return the current locale. By default, C programs start in the .Li "C" locale. The only function in the library that sets the locale is .Fn setlocale ; the locale is never changed as a side effect of some other routine. .Sh RETURN VALUES Upon successful completion, .Fn setlocale returns the string associated with the specified .Fa category for the requested .Fa locale . The .Fn setlocale function returns .Dv NULL and fails to change the locale if the given combination of .Fa category and .Fa locale makes no sense. .Sh FILES l -tag -width /usr/share/locale/locale/category -compact t Pa $PATH_LOCALE/ Ns Em locale/category t Pa /usr/share/locale/ Ns Em locale/category locale file for the locale .Em locale and the category .Em category . .El .Sh ERRORS No errors are defined. .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr colldef 1 , .Xr mklocale 1 , .Xr catopen 3 , .Xr ctype 3 , .Xr localeconv 3 , .Xr multibyte 3 , .Xr strcoll 3 , .Xr strxfrm 3 , .Xr euc 5 , .Xr utf8 5 , .Xr environ 7 .Sh STANDARDS The .Fn setlocale function conforms to .St -isoC-99 . .Sh HISTORY The .Fn setlocale function first appeared in x 4.4 .