1 2=head1 NAME 3 4Locale::Language - ISO two letter codes for language identification (ISO 639) 5 6=head1 SYNOPSIS 7 8 use Locale::Language; 9 10 $lang = code2language('en'); # $lang gets 'English' 11 $code = language2code('French'); # $code gets 'fr' 12 13 @codes = all_language_codes(); 14 @names = all_language_names(); 15 16 17=head1 DESCRIPTION 18 19The C<Locale::Language> module provides access to the ISO two-letter 20codes for identifying languages, as defined in ISO 639. You can either 21access the codes via the L<conversion routines> (described below), 22or via the two functions which return lists of all language codes or 23all language names. 24 25 26=head1 CONVERSION ROUTINES 27 28There are two conversion routines: C<code2language()> and C<language2code()>. 29 30=over 4 31 32=item code2language() 33 34This function takes a two letter language code and returns a string 35which contains the name of the language identified. If the code is 36not a valid language code, as defined by ISO 639, then C<undef> 37will be returned. 38 39 $lang = code2language($code); 40 41=item language2code() 42 43This function takes a language name and returns the corresponding 44two letter language code, if such exists. 45If the argument could not be identified as a language name, 46then C<undef> will be returned. 47 48 $code = language2code('French'); 49 50The case of the language name is not important. 51See the section L<KNOWN BUGS AND LIMITATIONS> below. 52 53=back 54 55 56=head1 QUERY ROUTINES 57 58There are two function which can be used to obtain a list of all 59language codes, or all language names: 60 61=over 4 62 63=item C<all_language_codes()> 64 65Returns a list of all two-letter language codes. 66The codes are guaranteed to be all lower-case, 67and not in any particular order. 68 69=item C<all_language_names()> 70 71Returns a list of all language names for which there is a corresponding 72two-letter language code. The names are capitalised, and not returned 73in any particular order. 74 75=back 76 77 78=head1 EXAMPLES 79 80The following example illustrates use of the C<code2language()> function. 81The user is prompted for a language code, and then told the corresponding 82language name: 83 84 $| = 1; # turn off buffering 85 86 print "Enter language code: "; 87 chop($code = <STDIN>); 88 $lang = code2language($code); 89 if (defined $lang) 90 { 91 print "$code = $lang\n"; 92 } 93 else 94 { 95 print "'$code' is not a valid language code!\n"; 96 } 97 98=head1 KNOWN BUGS AND LIMITATIONS 99 100=over 4 101 102=item * 103 104In the current implementation, all data is read in when the 105module is loaded, and then held in memory. 106A lazy implementation would be more memory friendly. 107 108=item * 109 110Currently just supports the two letter language codes - 111there are also three-letter codes, and numbers. 112Would these be of any use to anyone? 113 114=back 115 116=head1 SEE ALSO 117 118=over 4 119 120=item Locale::Country 121 122ISO codes for identification of country (ISO 3166). 123Supports 2-letter, 3-letter, and numeric country codes. 124 125=item Locale::Script 126 127ISO codes for identification of written scripts (ISO 15924). 128 129=item Locale::Currency 130 131ISO three letter codes for identification of currencies and funds (ISO 4217). 132 133=item ISO 639:1988 (E/F) 134 135Code for the representation of names of languages. 136 137=item http://lcweb.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/langhome.html 138 139Home page for ISO 639-2. 140 141=back 142 143 144=head1 AUTHOR 145 146Neil Bowers E<lt>neil@bowers.comE<gt> 147 148=head1 COPYRIGHT 149 150Copyright (C) 2002, Neil Bowers. 151 152Copyright (c) 1997-2001 Canon Research Centre Europe (CRE). 153 154This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or 155modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. 156 157=cut 158 159