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NAME
nl_langinfo, nl_langinfo_l - query language and locale information
LIBRARY
Standard C library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <langinfo.h>
char *nl_langinfo(nl_item item);
char *nl_langinfo_l(nl_item item, locale_t locale);
Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):
nl_langinfo_l():
Since glibc 2.24:
_POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L
glibc 2.23 and earlier:
_POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L
DESCRIPTION
The nl_langinfo() and nl_langinfo_l() functions provide access to locale information in a more flexible
way than localeconv(3). nl_langinfo() returns a string which is the value corresponding to item in the
program's current global locale. nl_langinfo_l() returns a string which is the value corresponding to
item for the locale identified by the locale object locale, which was previously created by newlocale(3).
Individual and additional elements of the locale categories can be queried. setlocale(3) needs to be
executed with proper arguments before.
Examples for the locale elements that can be specified in item using the constants defined in
<langinfo.h> are:
CODESET (LC_CTYPE)
Return a string with the name of the character encoding used in the selected locale, such as
"UTF-8", "ISO-8859-1", or "ANSI_X3.4-1968" (better known as US-ASCII). This is the same string
that you get with "locale charmap". For a list of character encoding names, try "locale -m" (see
locale(1)).
D_T_FMT (LC_TIME)
Return a string that can be used as a format string for strftime(3) to represent time and date in
a locale-specific way (%c conversion specification).
D_FMT (LC_TIME)
Return a string that can be used as a format string for strftime(3) to represent a date in a
locale-specific way (%x conversion specification).
T_FMT (LC_TIME)
Return a string that can be used as a format string for strftime(3) to represent a time in a
locale-specific way (%X conversion specification).
AM_STR (LC_TIME)
Return a string that represents affix for ante meridiem (before noon, "AM") time. (Used in %p
strftime(3) conversion specification.)
PM_STR (LC_TIME)
Return a string that represents affix for post meridiem (before midnight, "PM") time. (Used in %p
strftime(3) conversion specification.)
T_FMT_AMPM (LC_TIME)
Return a string that can be used as a format string for strftime(3) to represent a time in a.m. or
p.m. notation in a locale-specific way (%r conversion specification).
ERA (LC_TIME)
Return era description, which contains information about how years are counted and displayed for
each era in a locale. Each era description segment shall have the format:
direction:offset:start_date:end_date:era_name:era_format
according to the definitions below:
direction Either a "+" or a "-" character. The "+" means that years increase from the
start_date towards the end_date, "-" means the opposite.
offset The epoch year of the start_date.
start_date A date in the form yyyy/mm/dd, where yyyy, mm, and dd are the year, month, and day
numbers respectively of the start of the era.
end_date The ending date of the era, in the same format as the start_date, or one of the two
special values "-*" (minus infinity) or "+*" (plus infinity).
era_name The name of the era, corresponding to the %EC strftime(3) conversion specification.
era_format The format of the year in the era, corresponding to the %EY strftime(3) conversion
specification.
Era description segments are separated by semicolons. Most locales do not define this value.
Examples of locales that do define this value are the Japanese and Thai locales.
ERA_D_T_FMT (LC_TIME)
Return a string that can be used as a format string for strftime(3) for alternative representation
of time and date in a locale-specific way (%Ec conversion specification).
ERA_D_FMT (LC_TIME)
Return a string that can be used as a format string for strftime(3) for alternative representation
of a date in a locale-specific way (%Ex conversion specification).
ERA_T_FMT (LC_TIME)
Return a string that can be used as a format string for strftime(3) for alternative representation
of a time in a locale-specific way (%EX conversion specification).
DAY_{1–7} (LC_TIME)
Return name of the n-th day of the week. [Warning: this follows the US convention DAY_1 = Sunday,
not the international convention (ISO 8601) that Monday is the first day of the week.] (Used in
%A strftime(3) conversion specification.)
ABDAY_{1–7} (LC_TIME)
Return abbreviated name of the n-th day of the week. (Used in %a strftime(3) conversion
specification.)
MON_{1–12} (LC_TIME)
Return name of the n-th month. (Used in %B strftime(3) conversion specification.)
ABMON_{1–12} (LC_TIME)
Return abbreviated name of the n-th month. (Used in %b strftime(3) conversion specification.)
RADIXCHAR (LC_NUMERIC)
Return radix character (decimal dot, decimal comma, etc.).
THOUSEP (LC_NUMERIC)
Return separator character for thousands (groups of three digits).
YESEXPR (LC_MESSAGES)
Return a regular expression that can be used with the regex(3) function to recognize a positive
response to a yes/no question.
NOEXPR (LC_MESSAGES)
Return a regular expression that can be used with the regex(3) function to recognize a negative
response to a yes/no question.
CRNCYSTR (LC_MONETARY)
Return the currency symbol, preceded by "-" if the symbol should appear before the value, "+" if
the symbol should appear after the value, or "." if the symbol should replace the radix character.
The above list covers just some examples of items that can be requested. For a more detailed list,
consult The GNU C Library Reference Manual.
RETURN VALUE
On success, these functions return a pointer to a string which is the value corresponding to item in the
specified locale.
If no locale has been selected by setlocale(3) for the appropriate category, nl_langinfo() return a
pointer to the corresponding string in the "C" locale. The same is true of nl_langinfo_l() if locale
specifies a locale where langinfo data is not defined.
If item is not valid, a pointer to an empty string is returned.
The pointer returned by these functions may point to static data that may be overwritten, or the pointer
itself may be invalidated, by a subsequent call to nl_langinfo(), nl_langinfo_l(), or setlocale(3). The
same statements apply to nl_langinfo_l() if the locale object referred to by locale is freed or modified
by freelocale(3) or newlocale(3).
POSIX specifies that the application may not modify the string returned by these functions.
ATTRIBUTES
For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────┬────────────────┐
│ Interface │ Attribute │ Value │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼────────────────┤
│ nl_langinfo() │ Thread safety │ MT-Safe locale │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────┴────────────────┘
STANDARDS
POSIX.1-2008.
HISTORY
POSIX.1-2001, SUSv2.
NOTES
The behavior of nl_langinfo_l() is undefined if locale is the special locale object LC_GLOBAL_LOCALE or
is not a valid locale object handle.
EXAMPLES
The following program sets the character type and the numeric locale according to the environment and
queries the terminal character set and the radix character.
#include <langinfo.h>
#include <locale.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int
main(void)
{
setlocale(LC_CTYPE, "");
setlocale(LC_NUMERIC, "");
printf("%s\n", nl_langinfo(CODESET));
printf("%s\n", nl_langinfo(RADIXCHAR));
exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}
SEE ALSO
locale(1), localeconv(3), setlocale(3), charsets(7), locale(7)
The GNU C Library Reference Manual
Linux man-pages 6.9.1 2024-06-15 nl_langinfo(3)