NAME

localedef − generate a locale environment

SYNOPSIS

localedef [-cnvw] [-C compiler_options] [-L loader_options] [-m method_file] [-f charmap_file] [-i locale_definition] locale_name

DESCRIPTION

localedef sets up the language environment for the named locale.  localedef reads a locale definition file (see localedef(4) for a detailed description) from standard input (default) or from locale_definition file, creates a locale file with the same name as specified for the locale_name parameter, and optionally installs this locale in the appropriate directory.  Installation of public locales (those accessible to all users) requires appropriate privileges.  Creation of locales (both private and public) requires access to the ANSI C compiler. 

Options

localedef recognizes the following options:

-c Create permanent output even if warning messages have been generated. 

-n (noinstall) Create the locale file in the current directory. 

-v (verbose) Generate as many diagnostic messages as possible. 

-w Generate additional warning messages for duplicate definitions and ellipses use in the LC_COLLATE category. 

-f charmap_file
If locale definition file contains symbolic names (of the form <name> ) use charmap_file.  See charmap(4) for a description of the format of a charmap_file.

-i locale_definition
Use locale_definition file as input, instead of standard input (default). 

-m method_file Use the specified method_file to overwrite use of default methods in processing the locale definition . 

-C compiler_options
Specify additional compiler options to be applied in compiling the locale. See cc(1) for a complete list of options. 

-L loader_options
Specify additional loader options to be applied in linking the locale. See ld(1) for a complete list of options. 

locale_name This argument is required, and identifies the name of the language following the naming convention of the LANG environment variable (see environ(5)):

language[_territory][.codeset]

The following is a brief description of the components that make up a locale.  For a complete description of the form and syntax of a locale defintion file, see localedef(4). For a complete description of the form and effects of a charmap file, see charmap(4).

Six categories of data in the locale_name file are recognized by setlocale(3C), and make up a language definition:

LC_COLLATE Information in this category affects behavior of regular-expressions and NLS string-collation functions. 

LC_CTYPE Information in this category affects behavior of character classification and conversion functions. 

LC_MONETARY Information in this category affects behavior of functions that handle monetary values. 

LC_NUMERIC Information in this category affects handling of the radix character in formatted-input/output and string-conversion functions. 

LC_TIME Information in this category affects behavior of time-conversion functions. 

LC_MESSAGES This category contains information affecting interpretation of yes/no responses. 

A locale definition file also consists of six categories.  The beginning of each category is identified by a category tag having the form LC_category where category is one of the following: CTYPE, COLLATE, MONETARY, NUMERIC, TIME, or MESSAGES.  The end of each category is identified by a tag consisting of the word END followed by a space and the category identifier; for example, END LC_COLLATE.  Categories can appear in any order in the locale definition file.  At least one category specifications is required.  If a category is not specified, setlocale() sets up the default “C” locale for that category (see setlocale(3C) and lang(5)).

Each category is composed of one or more statements.  Each statement begins with a keyword followed by one or more expressions.  An expression is a set of well-formed metacharacters, strings, and constants.  localedef also recognizes comments and separators. 

More than one definition specified for each category constitutes a hard error (causes localedef to exit without generating a locale).  Any category can be specified by the keyword copy followed by the name of a valid locale.  This causes the information for the category to be identical to that in the named locale.  Note that the copy keyword, if used for a category, must be the first and only keyword following the category tag. 

A methods file is used to creat locales for user-specific character encoding schemes. 

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES

Environment Variables

LANG determines the locale to use when neither LC_ALL or the other category variables specify a locale. 

LC_ALL determines locale to be used.  It overrides any values specified by LANG or any other LC_* variables. 

LC_COLLATE and LC_CTYPE have no effect on the processing of localedef, which behaves as if these two variables were set to the C locale. 

LC_MESSAGES determines the language in which messages are displayed. 

International Code Set Support

Single- and multi-byte character code sets are supported. 

RETURN VALUE

localedef returns the following values:

 0 No errors occurred and the locale was successfully created. 

 1 Warnings occurred and the locale was successfully created. 

 2 The locale specification exceeded implementation limits or the coded character set used is not supported. 

>3 Warnings or errors occurred, and no output was generated. 

AUTHOR

localedef was developed by OSF and HP. 

FILES

/usr/lib/nls/config
/usr/lib/nls/loc/src
/usr/lib/nls/loc/charmaps
/usr/lib/nls/loc/methods
/usr/lib/nls/loc/locales/language [_ territory] [. codeset]

SEE ALSO

locale(1), localedef(4), charmap(4), setlocale(3C), environ(5). 

STANDARDS CONFORMANCE

localedef: XPG4, POSIX.2

Hewlett-Packard Company  —  HP-UX Release 10.20:  July 1996