setlocale(3C)							 setlocale(3C)

NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     setlocale - modify	and query a program's locale

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     #include <locale.h>

     char *setlocale (int category, const char *locale);

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     setlocale selects the appropriate piece of	the program's locale as
     specified by the category and locale arguments.  The category argument
     may have the following values: LC_CTYPE, LC_NUMERIC, LC_TIME, LC_COLLATE,
     LC_MONETARY, LC_MESSAGES and LC_ALL.  These names are defined in the
     locale.h header file.  LC_CTYPE affects the behavior of the character
     handling functions	(isalpha, tolower, etc.) and the multibyte character
     functions (such as	mbtowc and wctomb).  LC_NUMERIC	affects	the decimalpoint
 character for the formatted input/output functions and the string
     conversion	functions as well as the non-monetary formatting information
     returned by localeconv [see localeconv(3C)].  LC_TIME affects the
     behavior of ascftime, cftime, getdate, and	strftime.  LC_COLLATE affects
     the behavior of strcoll and strxfrm.  LC_MONETARY affects the monetary
     formatted information returned by localeconv.  LC_MESSAGES	affects	the
     behavior of gettxt, catopen, catclose, and	catgets	[see catopen(3C) and
     catgets(3C)].  LC_ALL names the program's entire locale.

     Each category corresponds to a set	of databases that contain the relevant
     information for each defined locale.  The location	of a database is given
     by	the following path, /usr/lib/locale/locale<b>/category, where locale and
     category are the names of locale and category, respectively.  For
     example, the database for the LC_CTYPE category for the "german" locale
     would be found in /usr/lib/locale/german/LC_CTYPE.

     A value of	"C" for	locale specifies the default environment.

     A value of	"" for locale specifies	that the locale	should be taken	from
     environment variables.  The order in which	the environment	variables are
     checked for the various categories	is given below:
	       Category	      1st Env. Var.   2nd Env. Var
	       ___________________________________________
	       LC_CTYPE:      LC_CTYPE	      LANG
	       LC_COLLATE:    LC_COLLATE      LANG
	       LC_TIME:	      LC_TIME	      LANG
	       LC_NUMERIC:    LC_NUMERIC      LANG
	       LC_MONETARY:   LC_MONETARY     LANG
	       LC_MESSAGES:   LC_MESSAGES     LANG

     At	program	startup, the equivalent	of

	  setlocale(LC_ALL, "C")






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setlocale(3C)							 setlocale(3C)



     is	executed.  This	has the	effect of initializing each category to	the
     locale described by the environment "C".

     If	a pointer to a string is given for locale, setlocale attempts to set
     the locale	for the	given category to locale.  If setlocale	succeeds,
     locale is returned.  If setlocale fails, a	null pointer is	returned and
     the program's locale is not changed.

     For category LC_ALL, the behavior is slightly different.  If a pointer to
     a string is given for locale and LC_ALL is	given for category, setlocale
     attempts to set the locale	for all	the categories to locale.  The locale
     may be a simple locale, consisting	of a single locale, or a composite
     locale.  A	composite locale is a string returned by a previous call to
     setlocale with LC_ALL for which the locale	did not	consist	of identical
     category values.  If setlocale fails to set the locale for	any category,
     a null pointer is returned	and the	program's locale for all categories is
     not changed.  Otherwise, a	description of the new locale is returned.

     A null pointer for	locale causes setlocale	to return the current locale
     associated	with the category.  The	program's locale is not	changed.

FILES    [Toc]    [Back]

     /usr/lib/locale/C/LC_CTYPE		 LC_CTYPE database for the C locale
     /usr/lib/locale/C/LC_NUMERIC	 LC_NUMERIC database for the C locale
     /usr/lib/locale/C/LC_TIME		 LC_TIME database for the C locale
     /usr/lib/locale/C/LC_COLLATE	 LC_COLLATE database for the C locale
     /usr/lib/locale/C/LC_MESSAGES	 LC_MESSAGES database for the C	locale
     /usr/lib/locale/locale<b>/category	 files containing the locale-specific
					 information for each locale and
					 category

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     ctime(3C),	ctype(3C), getdate(3C),	gettxt(3G), localeconv(3C),
     mbchar(3C), mbstring, strcoll(3C),	strftime(3C), strtod(3C), strxfrm(3C),
     printf(3S), environ(5).

BUGS    [Toc]    [Back]

     Because setlocale() may call dlopen(3), and because dlopen(3) calls are
     forbidden from init sections of DSO's, setlocale()	should not be called
     from such sections.  See DSO(5) for more information.


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