.\" Copyright (c) 1993 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. .\" .\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by .\" Donn Seeley at BSDI. .\" .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions .\" are met: .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. .\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software .\" must display the following acknowledgement: .\" This product includes software developed by the University of .\" California, Berkeley and its contributors. .\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software .\" without specific prior written permission. .\" .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE .\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF .\" SUCH DAMAGE. .\" .\" @(#)setlocale.3 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/9/93 .\" $FreeBSD: src/lib/libc/locale/setlocale.3,v 1.33 2004/10/17 06:51:50 tjr Exp $ .\" .Dd November 21, 2003 .Dt SETLOCALE 3 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm setlocale .Nd natural language formatting for C .Sh LIBRARY .Lb libc .Sh SYNOPSIS .In 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. .Pp The .Fn setlocale function recognizes several categories of routines. These are the categories and the sets of routines they select: .Pp .Bl -tag -width LC_MONETARY .It Dv LC_ALL Set the entire locale generically. .It Dv LC_COLLATE Set a locale for string collation routines. This controls alphabetic ordering in .Fn strcoll and .Fn strxfrm . .It 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. .It Dv LC_MESSAGES Set a locale for message catalogs, see .Xr catopen 3 function. .It Dv LC_MONETARY Set a locale for formatting monetary values; this affects the .Fn localeconv function. .It 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 . .It Dv LC_TIME Set a locale for formatting dates and times using the .Fn strftime function. .El .Pp 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 ERRORS No errors are defined. .Sh FILES .Bl -tag -width /usr/share/locale/locale/category -compact .It Pa $PATH_LOCALE/ Ns Em locale/category .It Pa /usr/share/locale/ Ns Em locale/category locale file for the locale .Em locale and the category .Em category . .El .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 .Bx 4.4 .