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NAME

       locale - describes a locale definition file

DESCRIPTION

       The  locale  definition  file  contains  all the information that the localedef(1) command
       needs to convert it into the binary locale database.

       The definition files consist of sections which each describe a locale category in  detail.
       See locale(7) for additional details for these categories.

   Syntax
       The  locale  definition  file  starts  with  a  header  that  may consist of the following
       keywords:

       escape_char
              is followed by a character that should be used as the escape-character for the rest
              of  the  file  to  mark characters that should be interpreted in a special way.  It
              defaults to the backslash (\).

       comment_char
              is followed by a character that will be used as the comment-character for the  rest
              of the file.  It defaults to the number sign (#).

       The locale definition has one part for each locale category.  Each part can be copied from
       another existing locale or can be defined from scratch.  If the category should be copied,
       the  only  valid  keyword  in the definition is copy followed by the name of the locale in
       double quotes which should be copied.  The exceptions for this  rule  are  LC_COLLATE  and
       LC_CTYPE  where  a  copy  statement  can be followed by locale-specific rules and selected
       overrides.

       When defining a locale or a category from scratch, an  existing  system-  provided  locale
       definition file should be used as a reference to follow common glibc conventions.

   Locale category sections
       The following category sections are defined by POSIX:

       *  LC_CTYPE

       *  LC_COLLATE

       *  LC_MESSAGES

       *  LC_MONETARY

       *  LC_NUMERIC

       *  LC_TIME

       In  addition,  since  version  2.2,  the  GNU C library supports the following nonstandard
       categories:

       *  LC_ADDRESS

       *  LC_IDENTIFICATION

       *  LC_MEASUREMENT

       *  LC_NAME

       *  LC_PAPER

       *  LC_TELEPHONE

       See locale(7) for a more detailed description of each category.

   LC_ADDRESS
       The definition starts with the string LC_ADDRESS in the first column.

       The following keywords are allowed:

       postal_fmt
              followed by a string containing field descriptors that define the format  used  for
              postal addresses in the locale.  The following field descriptors are recognized:

              %n     Person's name, possibly constructed with the LC_NAME name_fmt keyword (since
                     glibc 2.24).

              %a  Care of person, or organization.

              %f  Firm name.

              %d  Department name.

              %b  Building name.

              %s  Street or block (e.g., Japanese) name.

              %h  House number or designation.

              %N  Insert an end-of-line if the previous  descriptor's  value  was  not  an  empty
                  string; otherwise ignore.

              %t  Insert  a  space  if  the  previous descriptor's value was not an empty string;
                  otherwise ignore.

              %r  Room number, door designation.

              %e  Floor number.

              %C  Country designation, from the country_post keyword.

              %l  Local township within town or city (since glibc 2.24).

              %z  Zip number, postal code.

              %T  Town, city.

              %S  State, province, or prefecture.

              %c  Country, as taken from data record.

              Each field descriptor may have an 'R' after the '%' to specify that the information
              is taken from a Romanized version string of the entity.

       country_name
              followed  by  the  country  name  in  the  language  of the current document (e.g.,
              "Deutschland" for the de_DE locale).

       country_post
              followed by the abbreviation of the country (see CERT_MAILCODES).

       country_ab2
              followed by the two-letter abbreviation of the country (ISO 3166).

       country_ab3
              followed by the three-letter abbreviation of the country (ISO 3166).

       country_num
              followed by the numeric country code (ISO 3166).

       country_car
              followed by the international licence plate country code.

       country_isbn
              followed by the ISBN code (for books).

       lang_name
              followed by the language name in the language of the current document.

       lang_ab
              followed by the two-letter abbreviation of the language (ISO 639).

       lang_term
              followed by the three-letter abbreviation of the language (ISO 639-2/T).

       lang_lib
              followed by the three-letter abbreviation of the  language  for  library  use  (ISO
              639-2/B).  Applications should in general prefer lang_term over lang_lib.

       The LC_ADDRESS definition ends with the string END LC_ADDRESS.

   LC_CTYPE
       The definition starts with the string LC_CTYPE in the first column.

       The following keywords are allowed:

       upper  followed  by  a  list  of  uppercase letters.  The letters A through Z are included
              automatically.  Characters also specified as cntrl, digit, punct, or space are  not
              allowed.

       lower  followed  by  a  list  of  lowercase letters.  The letters a through z are included
              automatically.  Characters also specified as cntrl, digit, punct, or space are  not
              allowed.

       alpha  followed  by  a  list of letters.  All character specified as either upper or lower
              are automatically included.  Characters also specified as cntrl, digit,  punct,  or
              space are not allowed.

       digit  followed by the characters classified as numeric digits.  Only the digits 0 through
              9 are allowed.  They are included by default in this class.

       space  followed by a list of characters defined  as  white-space  characters.   Characters
              also  specified  as  upper,  lower, alpha, digit, graph, or xdigit are not allowed.
              The characters  <space>,  <form-feed>,  <newline>,  <carriage-return>,  <tab>,  and
              <vertical-tab> are automatically included.

       cntrl  followed  by  a  list  of  control characters.  Characters also specified as upper,
              lower, alpha, digit, punct, graph, print, or xdigit are not allowed.

       punct  followed by a list of punctuation characters.  Characters also specified as  upper,
              lower, alpha, digit, cntrl, xdigit, or the <space> character are not allowed.

       graph  followed  by  a  list of printable characters, not including the <space> character.
              The characters defined as  upper,  lower,  alpha,  digit,  xdigit,  and  punct  are
              automatically included.  Characters also specified as cntrl are not allowed.

       print  followed  by  a list of printable characters, including the <space> character.  The
              characters defined as upper, lower, alpha, digit, xdigit, punct,  and  the  <space>
              character  are  automatically included.  Characters also specified as cntrl are not
              allowed.

       xdigit followed by a list of characters classified as  hexadecimal  digits.   The  decimal
              digits  must be included followed by one or more set of six characters in ascending
              order.  The following characters are included by default: 0 through 9, a through f,
              A through F.

       blank  followed  by  a list of characters classified as blank.  The characters <space> and
              <tab> are automatically included.

       charclass
              followed by a list of locale-specific character class names which are  then  to  be
              defined in the locale.

       toupper
              followed  by  a list of mappings from lowercase to uppercase letters.  Each mapping
              is a pair of a lowercase and an uppercase letter separated with a , and enclosed in
              parentheses.

       tolower
              followed by a list of mappings from uppercase to lowercase letters.  If the keyword
              tolower is not present, the reverse of the toupper list is used.

       map totitle
              followed by a list of mapping pairs of characters and letters to be used in  titles
              (headings).

       class  followed  by  a locale-specific character class definition, starting with the class
              name followed by the characters belonging to the class.

       charconv
              followed by a list of locale-specific character mapping names which are then to  be
              defined in the locale.

       outdigit
              followed by a list of alternate output digits for the locale.

       map to_inpunct
              followed  by  a  list of mapping pairs of alternate digits and separators for input
              digits for the locale.

       map to_outpunct
              followed by a list of mapping pairs of alternate  separators  for  output  for  the
              locale.

       translit_start
              marks  the start of the transliteration rules section.  The section can contain the
              include keyword in the beginning followed by locale-specific rules  and  overrides.
              Any  rule  specified  in  the locale file will override any rule copied or included
              from other files.  In case of duplicate rule definitions in the locale  file,  only
              the first rule is used.

              A  transliteration  rule  consist of a character to be transliterated followed by a
              list of transliteration targets separated by semicolons.  The  first  target  which
              can  be  presented in the target character set is used, if none of them can be used
              the default_missing character will be used instead.

       include
              in the transliteration rules section includes  a  transliteration  rule  file  (and
              optionally a repertoire map file).

       default_missing
              in  the  transliteration rules section defines the default character to be used for
              transliteration where none of  the  targets  cannot  be  presented  in  the  target
              character set.

       translit_end
              marks the end of the transliteration rules.

       The LC_CTYPE definition ends with the string END LC_CTYPE.

   LC_COLLATE
       Note  that  glibc  does  not support all POSIX-defined options, only the options described
       below are supported (as of glibc 2.23).

       The definition starts with the string LC_COLLATE in the first column.

       The following keywords are allowed:

       coll_weight_max
              followed by the  number  representing  used  collation  levels.   This  keyword  is
              recognized but ignored by glibc.

       collating-element
              followed   by   the   definition  of  a  collating-element  symbol  representing  a
              multicharacter collating element.

       collating-symbol
              followed by the definition of a collating symbol that  can  be  used  in  collation
              order statements.

       define followed by string to be evaluated in an ifdef string / else / endif construct.

       reorder-after
              followed by a redefinition of a collation rule.

       reorder-end
              marks the end of the redefinition of a collation rule.

       reorder-sections-after
              followed by a script name to reorder listed scripts after.

       reorder-sections-end
              marks the end of the reordering of sections.

       script followed by a declaration of a script.

       symbol-equivalence
              followed  by  a  collating-symbol  to  be  equivalent to another defined collating-
              symbol.

       The collation rule definition starts with a line:

       order_start
              followed by a list of keywords chosen from forward,  backward,  or  position.   The
              order  definition  consists  of  lines  that  describe  the  collation order and is
              terminated with the keyword order_end.

       The LC_COLLATE definition ends with the string END LC_COLLATE.

   LC_IDENTIFICATION
       The definition starts with the string LC_IDENTIFICATION in the first column.

       The following keywords are allowed:

       title  followed by the title of the locale document (e.g., "Maori language locale for  New
              Zealand").

       source followed by the name of the organization that maintains this document.

       address
              followed by the address of the organization that maintains this document.

       contact
              followed  by the name of the contact person at the organization that maintains this
              document.

       email  followed by the email address of the person or  organization  that  maintains  this
              document.

       tel    followed by the telephone number (in international format) of the organization that
              maintains this document.  As of glibc 2.24, this keyword is deprecated in favor  of
              other contact methods.

       fax    followed  by  the  fax  number  (in  international format) of the organization that
              maintains this document.  As of glibc 2.24, this keyword is deprecated in favor  of
              other contact methods.

       language
              followed by the name of the language to which this document applies.

       territory
              followed  by  the  name  of  the  country/geographic  extent to which this document
              applies.

       audience
              followed by a description of the audience for which this document is intended.

       application
              followed by a description of any special application for  which  this  document  is
              intended.

       abbreviation
              followed by the short name for provider of the source of this document.

       revision
              followed by the revision number of this document.

       date   followed by the revision date of this document.

       In  addition,  for  each of the categories defined by the document, there should be a line
       starting with the keyword category, followed by:

       *  a string that identifies this locale category definition,

       *  a semicolon, and

       *  one of the LC_* identifiers.

       The LC_IDENTIFICATION definition ends with the string END LC_IDENTIFICATION.

   LC_MESSAGES
       The definition starts with the string LC_MESSAGES in the first column.

       The following keywords are allowed:

       yesexpr
              followed by a regular expression that describes possible yes-responses.

       noexpr followed by a regular expression that describes possible no-responses.

       yesstr followed by the output string corresponding to "yes".

       nostr  followed by the output string corresponding to "no".

       The LC_MESSAGES definition ends with the string END LC_MESSAGES.

   LC_MEASUREMENT
       The definition starts with the string LC_MEASUREMENT in the first column.

       The following keywords are allowed:

       measurement
              followed by number identifying the standard used for  measurement.   The  following
              values are recognized:

              1   Metric.

              2   US customary measurements.

       The LC_MEASUREMENT definition ends with the string END LC_MEASUREMENT.

   LC_MONETARY
       The definition starts with the string LC_MONETARY in the first column.

       The following keywords are allowed:

       int_curr_symbol
              followed  by  the international currency symbol.  This must be a 4-character string
              containing the international currency symbol as defined by the  ISO  4217  standard
              (three characters) followed by a separator.

       currency_symbol
              followed by the local currency symbol.

       mon_decimal_point
              followed  by  the string that will be used as the decimal delimiter when formatting
              monetary quantities.

       mon_thousands_sep
              followed by the string that will be used  as  a  group  separator  when  formatting
              monetary quantities.

       mon_grouping
              followed  by  a  sequence  of  integers  separated  by semicolons that describe the
              formatting of monetary quantities.  See grouping below for details.

       positive_sign
              followed by a string that  is  used  to  indicate  a  positive  sign  for  monetary
              quantities.

       negative_sign
              followed  by  a  string  that  is  used  to  indicate  a negative sign for monetary
              quantities.

       int_frac_digits
              followed by the number of fractional digits that should  be  used  when  formatting
              with the int_curr_symbol.

       frac_digits
              followed  by  the  number  of fractional digits that should be used when formatting
              with the currency_symbol.

       p_cs_precedes
              followed by an integer that  indicates  the  placement  of  currency_symbol  for  a
              nonnegative formatted monetary quantity:

              0   the symbol succeeds the value.

              1   the symbol precedes the value.

       p_sep_by_space
              followed  by  an integer that indicates the separation of currency_symbol, the sign
              string, and the value for a nonnegative formatted monetary quantity.  The following
              values are recognized:

              0   No space separates the currency symbol and the value.

              1   If the currency symbol and the sign string are adjacent, a space separates them
                  from the value; otherwise a space separates the currency symbol and the value.

              2   If the currency symbol and the sign string are adjacent, a space separates them
                  from the value; otherwise a space separates the sign string and the value.

       n_cs_precedes
              followed  by  an  integer  that  indicates  the  placement of currency_symbol for a
              negative formatted monetary quantity.   The  same  values  are  recognized  as  for
              p_cs_precedes.

       n_sep_by_space
              followed  by  an integer that indicates the separation of currency_symbol, the sign
              string, and the value for a negative formatted monetary quantity.  The same  values
              are recognized as for p_sep_by_space.

       p_sign_posn
              followed  by an integer that indicates where the positive_sign should be placed for
              a nonnegative monetary quantity:

              0   Parentheses enclose the quantity and the currency_symbol or int_curr_symbol.

              1   The  sign  string  precedes  the  quantity  and  the  currency_symbol  or   the
                  int_curr_symbol.

              2   The   sign  string  succeeds  the  quantity  and  the  currency_symbol  or  the
                  int_curr_symbol.

              3   The sign string precedes the currency_symbol or the int_curr_symbol.

              4   The sign string succeeds the currency_symbol or the int_curr_symbol.

       n_sign_posn
              followed by an integer that indicates where the negative_sign should be placed  for
              a negative monetary quantity.  The same values are recognized as for p_sign_posn.

       int_p_cs_precedes
              followed  by  an  integer  that  indicates  the  placement of int_curr_symbol for a
              nonnegative internationally formatted  monetary  quantity.   The  same  values  are
              recognized as for p_cs_precedes.

       int_n_cs_precedes
              followed  by  an  integer  that  indicates  the  placement of int_curr_symbol for a
              negative  internationally  formatted  monetary  quantity.   The  same  values   are
              recognized as for p_cs_precedes.

       int_p_sep_by_space
              followed  by  an integer that indicates the separation of int_curr_symbol, the sign
              string,  and  the  value  for  a  nonnegative  internationally  formatted  monetary
              quantity.  The same values are recognized as for p_sep_by_space.

       int_n_sep_by_space
              followed  by  an integer that indicates the separation of int_curr_symbol, the sign
              string, and the value for a negative internationally formatted  monetary  quantity.
              The same values are recognized as for p_sep_by_space.

       int_p_sign_posn
              followed  by an integer that indicates where the positive_sign should be placed for
              a nonnegative internationally formatted monetary quantity.   The  same  values  are
              recognized as for p_sign_posn.

       int_n_sign_posn
              followed  by an integer that indicates where the negative_sign should be placed for
              a negative internationally  formatted  monetary  quantity.   The  same  values  are
              recognized as for p_sign_posn.

       The LC_MONETARY definition ends with the string END LC_MONETARY.

   LC_NAME
       The definition starts with the string LC_NAME in the first column.

       Various  keywords  are allowed, but only name_fmt is mandatory.  Other keywords are needed
       only if there is common convention to use the corresponding  salutation  in  this  locale.
       The allowed keywords are as follows:

       name_fmt
              followed  by  a string containing field descriptors that define the format used for
              names in the locale.  The following field descriptors are recognized:

              %f  Family name(s).

              %F  Family names in uppercase.

              %g  First given name.

              %G  First given initial.

              %l  First given name with Latin letters.

              %o  Other shorter name.

              %m  Additional given name(s).

              %M  Initials for additional given name(s).

              %p  Profession.

              %s  Salutation, such as "Doctor".

              %S  Abbreviated salutation, such as "Mr." or "Dr.".

              %d  Salutation, using the FDCC-sets conventions.

              %t  If the preceding field descriptor resulted in an empty string, then  the  empty
                  string, otherwise a space character.

       name_gen
              followed by the general salutation for any gender.

       name_mr
              followed by the salutation for men.

       name_mrs
              followed by the salutation for married women.

       name_miss
              followed by the salutation for unmarried women.

       name_ms
              followed by the salutation valid for all women.

       The LC_NAME definition ends with the string END LC_NAME.

   LC_NUMERIC
       The definition starts with the string LC_NUMERIC in the first column.

       The following keywords are allowed:

       decimal_point
              followed  by  the string that will be used as the decimal delimiter when formatting
              numeric quantities.

       thousands_sep
              followed by the string that will be used  as  a  group  separator  when  formatting
              numeric quantities.

       grouping
              followed  by  a  sequence  of  integers  separated  by semicolons that describe the
              formatting of numeric quantities.

              Each integer specifies the number of digits in a group.  The first integer  defines
              the size of the group immediately to the left of the decimal delimiter.  Subsequent
              integers define succeeding groups to the left of the previous group.  If  the  last
              integer  is not -1, then the size of the previous group (if any) is repeatedly used
              for the remainder of the digits.  If the  last  integer  is  -1,  then  no  further
              grouping is performed.

       The LC_NUMERIC definition ends with the string END LC_NUMERIC.

   LC_PAPER
       The definition starts with the string LC_PAPER in the first column.

       The following keywords are allowed:

       height followed by the height, in millimeters, of the standard paper format.

       width  followed by the width, in millimeters, of the standard paper format.

       The LC_PAPER definition ends with the string END LC_PAPER.

   LC_TELEPHONE
       The definition starts with the string LC_TELEPHONE in the first column.

       The following keywords are allowed:

       tel_int_fmt
              followed  by a string that contains field descriptors that identify the format used
              to dial international numbers.  The following field descriptors are recognized:

              %a  Area code without nationwide prefix (the prefix is often "00").

              %A  Area code including nationwide prefix.

              %l  Local number (within area code).

              %e  Extension (to local number).

              %c  Country code.

              %C  Alternate carrier service code used for dialing abroad.

              %t  If the preceding field descriptor resulted in an empty string, then  the  empty
                  string, otherwise a space character.

       tel_dom_fmt
              followed  by a string that contains field descriptors that identify the format used
              to dial domestic numbers.  The recognized field descriptors are  the  same  as  for
              tel_int_fmt.

       int_select
              followed by the prefix used to call international phone numbers.

       int_prefix
              followed by the prefix used from other countries to dial this country.

       The LC_TELEPHONE definition ends with the string END LC_TELEPHONE.

   LC_TIME
       The definition starts with the string LC_TIME in the first column.

       The following keywords are allowed:

       abday  followed  by  a list of abbreviated names of the days of the week.  The list starts
              with the first day of the week as specified  by  week  (Sunday  by  default).   See
              NOTES.

       day    followed  by  a  list  of  names of the days of the week.  The list starts with the
              first day of the week as specified by week (Sunday by default).  See NOTES.

       abmon  followed by a list of abbreviated month names.

       mon    followed by a list of month names.

       d_t_fmt
              followed by the appropriate date and time format (for syntax, see strftime(3)).

       d_fmt  followed by the appropriate date format (for syntax, see strftime(3)).

       t_fmt  followed by the appropriate time format (for syntax, see strftime(3)).

       am_pm  followed by the appropriate representation of the am and pm strings.   This  should
              be left empty for locales not using AM/PM convention.

       t_fmt_ampm
              followed  by  the  appropriate time format (for syntax, see strftime(3)) when using
              12h clock  format.   This  should  be  left  empty  for  locales  not  using  AM/PM
              convention.

       era    followed  by  semicolon-separated  strings  that  define  how years are counted and
              displayed for each era in the locale.  Each string has the following format:

              direction:offset:start_date:end_date:era_name:era_format

              The fields are to be defined as follows:

              direction
                  Either + or -.  + means the years closer to start_date have lower numbers  than
                  years closer to end_date.  - means the opposite.

              offset
                  The  number  of the year closest to start_date in the era, corresponding to the
                  %Ey descriptor (see strptime(3)).

              start_date
                  The start of the era  in  the  form  of  yyyy/mm/dd.   Years  prior  AD  1  are
                  represented as negative numbers.

              end_date
                  The  end of the era in the form of yyyy/mm/dd, or one of the two special values
                  of -* or +*.  -* means the ending date is the beginning of time.  +* means  the
                  ending date is the end of time.

              era_name
                  The name of the era corresponding to the %EC descriptor (see strptime(3)).

              era_format
                  The  format  of  the  year  in the era corresponding to the %EY descriptor (see
                  strptime(3)).

       era_d_fmt
              followed by the format of the date in alternative era  notation,  corresponding  to
              the %Ex descriptor (see strptime(3)).

       era_t_fmt
              followed  by  the  format of the time in alternative era notation, corresponding to
              the %EX descriptor (see strptime(3)).

       era_d_t_fmt
              followed by  the  format  of  the  date  and  time  in  alternative  era  notation,
              corresponding to the %Ec descriptor (see strptime(3)).

       alt_digits
              followed by the alternative digits used for date and time in the locale.

       week   followed by a list of three values separated by semicolons: The number of days in a
              week (by default 7), a date of beginning of the week  (by  default  corresponds  to
              Sunday),  and  the  minimal  length  of  the  first  week  in  year (by default 4).
              Regarding the start of the week, 19971130 shall be used  for  Sunday  and  19971201
              shall be used for Monday.  See NOTES.

       first_weekday (since glibc 2.2)
              followed  by  the number of the first day from the day list to be shown in calendar
              applications.  The default value of  1  corresponds  to  either  Sunday  or  Monday
              depending on the value of the second week list item.  See NOTES.

       first_workday (since glibc 2.2)
              followed  by  the  number  of the first working day from the day list.  The default
              value is 2.  See NOTES.

       cal_direction
              followed by a number value that indicates the direction for the display of calendar
              dates, as follows:

              1   Left-right from top.

              2   Top-down from left.

              3   Right-left from top.

       date_fmt
              followed  by  the  appropriate  date  representation  for  date(1) (for syntax, see
              strftime(3)).

       The LC_TIME definition ends with the string END LC_TIME.

FILES

       /usr/lib/locale/locale-archive
              Usual default locale archive location.

       /usr/share/i18n/locales
              Usual default path for locale definition files.

CONFORMING TO

       POSIX.2.

NOTES

       The collective GNU C library community wisdom regarding abday, day,  week,  first_weekday,
       and first_workday states at https://sourceware.org/glibc/wiki/Locales the following:

       *  The value of the second week list item specifies the base of the abday and day lists.

       *  first_weekday specifies the offset of the first day-of-week in the abday and day lists.

       *  For  compatibility  reasons,  all glibc locales should set the value of the second week
          list item to 19971130 (Sunday) and base the abday and day lists appropriately, and  set
          first_weekday  and first_workday to 1 or 2, depending on whether the week and work week
          actually starts on Sunday or Monday for the locale.

SEE ALSO

       iconv(1), locale(1), localedef(1), localeconv(3), newlocale(3), setlocale(3), strftime(3),
       strptime(3), uselocale(3), charmap(5), charsets(7), locale(7), unicode(7), utf-8(7)

COLOPHON

       This  page  is  part of release 5.05 of the Linux man-pages project.  A description of the
       project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of  this  page,  can  be
       found at https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.