Editing Locale (computer software) (section)

== International standards ==

In standard C and C++, locale is defined in "categories" of {{tt|LC_COLLATE}} (text collation), {{tt|LC_CTYPE}} (character class), {{tt|LC_MONETARY}} (currency format), {{tt|LC_NUMERIC}} (number format), and {{tt|LC_TIME}} (time format). The special {{tt|LC_ALL}} category can be used to set all locale settings.<ref>{{cite web |title=LC_ALL, LC_COLLATE, LC_CTYPE, LC_MONETARY, LC_NUMERIC, LC_TIME - cppreference.com |url=https://en.cppreference.com/w/c/locale/LC_categories |website=en.cppreference.com}}</ref>

There is no standard locale names associated with C and C++ standards besides a "minimal locale" name "C", although the POSIX format is a commonly-used baseline.

=== POSIX platforms ===

On [[POSIX]] platforms such as [[Unix]], [[Linux]] and others, locale identifiers are defined in a way similar to the [[BCP 47]] definition of language tags, but the locale variant modifier is defined differently, and the [[character set]] is optionally included as a part of the identifier. The POSIX or "XPG" format is {{mono|<nowiki>[language[_territory][.codeset][@modifier]]</nowiki>}}. (For example, [[Australian English]] using the [[UTF-8]] encoding is {{mono|en_AU.UTF-8}}.)<ref>{{cite web |title=Environment Variables |url=https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap08.html |website=pubs.opengroup.org}}</ref> Separately, [[ISO/IEC 15897]] describes a different form, {{mono|<nowiki>language_territory+audience+application,sponsor_version</nowiki>}}, though it's highly dubious whether it is used at all.<ref>{{cite web |title=ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22 N610 [draft ISO/IEC 15897:1998(E)] Information technology — Procedures for registration of cultural elements |url=https://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg20/docs/n610.pdf |access-date=8 June 2023 |date=1998-11-17|quote=For Narrative Cultural Specifications and POSIX Locales the token identifier will be: 8_9+11+12,13_14}}</ref>
<!-- The identifier format is documented with the environment variables, but how do we cite (e.g.) SUSv4 here? Also, this seems to be part of an "optional" feature. ~~~~ -->

In the next example there is an output of command <code>locale</code> for [[Czech language]] (cs), [[Czech Republic]] (CZ) with explicit [[UTF-8]] encoding:

 $ '''locale'''
 LANG=cs_CZ.UTF-8
 LC_CTYPE="cs_CZ.UTF-8"
 LC_NUMERIC="cs_CZ.UTF-8"
 LC_TIME="cs_CZ.UTF-8"
 LC_COLLATE="cs_CZ.UTF-8"
 LC_MONETARY="cs_CZ.UTF-8"
 LC_MESSAGES="cs_CZ.UTF-8"
 LC_PAPER="cs_CZ.UTF-8"
 LC_NAME="cs_CZ.UTF-8"
 LC_ADDRESS="cs_CZ.UTF-8"
 LC_TELEPHONE="cs_CZ.UTF-8"
 LC_MEASUREMENT="cs_CZ.UTF-8"
 LC_IDENTIFICATION="cs_CZ.UTF-8"
 LC_ALL=