1 package I18N::Langinfo;
11 our @EXPORT = qw(langinfo);
73 our $VERSION = '0.21';
82 I18N::Langinfo - query locale information
90 The langinfo() function queries various locale information that can be
91 used to localize output and user interfaces. It uses the current underlying
92 locale, regardless of whether or not it was called from within the scope of
93 S<C<use locale>>. The langinfo() function requires
94 one numeric argument that identifies the locale constant to query:
95 if no argument is supplied, C<$_> is used. The numeric constants
96 appropriate to be used as arguments are exportable from I18N::Langinfo.
98 The following example will import the langinfo() function itself and
99 three constants to be used as arguments to langinfo(): a constant for
100 the abbreviated first day of the week (the numbering starts from
101 Sunday = 1) and two more constants for the affirmative and negative
102 answers for a yes/no question in the current locale.
104 use I18N::Langinfo qw(langinfo ABDAY_1 YESSTR NOSTR);
106 my ($abday_1, $yesstr, $nostr) =
107 map { langinfo($_) } (ABDAY_1, YESSTR, NOSTR);
109 print "$abday_1? [$yesstr/$nostr] ";
111 In other words, in the "C" (or English) locale the above will probably
112 print something like:
116 but under a French locale
120 The usually available constants are as follows.
126 For abbreviated and full length days of the week and months of the year:
128 ABDAY_1 ABDAY_2 ABDAY_3 ABDAY_4 ABDAY_5 ABDAY_6 ABDAY_7
129 ABMON_1 ABMON_2 ABMON_3 ABMON_4 ABMON_5 ABMON_6
130 ABMON_7 ABMON_8 ABMON_9 ABMON_10 ABMON_11 ABMON_12
131 DAY_1 DAY_2 DAY_3 DAY_4 DAY_5 DAY_6 DAY_7
132 MON_1 MON_2 MON_3 MON_4 MON_5 MON_6
133 MON_7 MON_8 MON_9 MON_10 MON_11 MON_12
137 For the date-time, date, and time formats used by the strftime() function
144 For the locales for which it makes sense to have ante meridiem and post
145 meridiem time formats:
147 AM_STR PM_STR T_FMT_AMPM
151 For the character code set being used (such as "ISO8859-1", "cp850",
152 "koi8-r", "sjis", "utf8", etc.), and for the currency string:
158 For an alternate representation of digits, for the
159 radix character used between the integer and the fractional part
160 of decimal numbers, the group separator string for large-ish floating point
161 numbers (yes, the final two are redundant with
162 L<POSIX::localeconv()|POSIX/localeconv>):
164 ALT_DIGITS RADIXCHAR THOUSEP
168 For the affirmative and negative responses and expressions:
170 YESSTR YESEXPR NOSTR NOEXPR
174 For the eras based on typically some ruler, such as the Japanese Emperor
175 (naturally only defined in the appropriate locales):
177 ERA ERA_D_FMT ERA_D_T_FMT ERA_T_FMT
181 =head2 For systems without C<nl_langinfo>
183 Starting in Perl 5.28, this module is available even on systems that lack a
184 native C<nl_langinfo>. On such systems, it uses various methods to construct
185 what that function, if present, would return. But there are potential
186 glitches. These are the items that could be different:
192 Unimplemented, so returns C<"">.
196 Unimplemented, except on Windows, due to the vagaries of vendor locale names,
197 returning C<""> on non-Windows.
207 Only the values for English are returned. C<YESSTR> and C<NOSTR> have been
208 removed from POSIX 2008, and are retained here for backwards compatibility.
209 Your platform's C<nl_langinfo> may not support them.
213 Always evaluates to C<%x>, the locale's appropriate date representation.
217 Always evaluates to C<%X>, the locale's appropriate time representation.
221 Always evaluates to C<%c>, the locale's appropriate date and time
226 The return may be incorrect for those rare locales where the currency symbol
227 replaces the radix character. If you have examples of it needing to work
228 differently, please file a report at L<https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues>.
232 Currently this gives the same results as Linux does. If you have examples of
233 it needing to work differently, please file a report at
234 L<https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues>.
244 These are derived by using C<strftime()>, and not all versions of that function
245 know about them. C<""> is returned for these on such systems.
249 See your L<nl_langinfo(3)> for more information about the available
250 constants. (Often this means having to look directly at the
251 F<langinfo.h> C header file.)
255 By default only the C<langinfo()> function is exported.
259 Before Perl 5.28, the returned values are unreliable for the C<RADIXCHAR> and
260 C<THOUSEP> locale constants.
262 Starting in 5.28, changing locales on threaded builds is supported on systems
263 that offer thread-safe locale functions. These include POSIX 2008 systems and
264 Windows starting with Visual Studio 2005, and this module will work properly
265 in such situations. However, on threaded builds on Windows prior to Visual
266 Studio 2015, retrieving the items C<CRNCYSTR> and C<THOUSEP> can result in a
267 race with a thread that has converted to use the global locale. It is quite
268 uncommon for a thread to have done this. It would be possible to construct a
269 workaround for this; patches welcome: see L<perlapi/switch_to_global_locale>.
273 L<perllocale>, L<POSIX/localeconv>, L<POSIX/setlocale>, L<nl_langinfo(3)>.
275 The langinfo() function is just a wrapper for the C nl_langinfo() interface.
279 Jarkko Hietaniemi, E<lt>jhi@hut.fiE<gt>. Now maintained by Perl 5 porters.
281 =head1 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
283 Copyright 2001 by Jarkko Hietaniemi
285 This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
286 it under the same terms as Perl itself.