Provided by: liblocale-codes-perl_3.72-1_all 
NAME
Locale::Codes - a distribution of modules to handle locale codes
DESCRIPTION
Locale-Codes is a distribution containing a set of modules designed to work with sets of
codes which uniquely identify something. For example, there are codes associated with
different countries, different currencies, different languages, etc. These sets of codes
are typically maintained in some standard.
This distribution provides a way to work with these lists of codes. Because the data from
the various standards is not available in any sort of consistent API, access to the lists
is not available in any direct fashion. To compensate for this, the list of codes is
stored internally within this distribution, and the distribution is updated on a regular
basis to include all known codes at that point in time. This does mean that it is
necessary to keep this distribution up-to-date to keep up with the various changes that
are made in the various standards.
Traditionally, a module has been created to work with each type of code sets. So, there
is a module for working with country lists, one for currency lists, etc. Since version
3.00, all of these individual modules were written as wrappers around a central module
(which was not intended to be used directly) which did all of the real work.
Starting with version 3.50, the central module was reworked slightly to provide an object-
oriented interface. All of the modules for working with individual types of code sets
were reworked to use the improved OO module, so the traditional interfaces still work as
they always have. As a result, you are free to use the traditional functional (non-OO)
interfaces, or to use the OO interface and bypass the wrapper modules entirely.
Both methods will be supported in the future, so use the one that is best suited to your
needs.
Within each type, any number of code sets are allowed. For example, sets of country codes
are maintained in several different locations including the ISO-3166 standard, the IANA,
and by the United Nations. The lists of countries are similar, but not identical.
Multiple code sets are supported, though trying to convert from one code set to another
will not always work since the list of countries is not one-to-one.
All data in all of these modules comes directly from the original standards (or as close
to direct as possible), so it should be up-to-date at the time of release.
I plan on releasing a new version several times a year to incorporate any changes made in
the standards. However, I don't always know about changes that occur, so if any of the
standards change, and you want a new release sooner, just email me and I'll get one out.
SYNOPSIS (OBJECT-ORIENTED INTERFACE)
use Locale::Codes;
or
use Locale::Codes ':constants';
$obj = new Locale::Codes 'country';
OBJECT-ORIENTED METHODS
The following methods are available.
In all methods, when specifying a code set, the name (as a string) is always available.
Traditionally, you could also use a perl constant to specify the code set. In order to do
so with the OO interface, you have to import the constants. To do that, load the module
with:
use Locale::Codes ':constants';
new ( [TYPE [,CODESET]] )
$obj = new Locale::Codes;
$obj = new Locale::Codes 'country';
$obj = new Locale::Codes 'country','alpha-3';
$obj = new Locale::Codes 'country',LOCALE_COUNTRY_ALPHA_3;
This creates a new object that can access the data. If no type is specified (in the
first argument), you must use the type method described below. No operations will
work unless the type is specified.
The second argument is the default code set to use. This is optional, as each type
has a default code set. The default code set can be set using the codeset method
below.
The last example is only available if the constants were imported when the module was
loaded.
show_errors ( FLAG )
$obj->show_errors(1);
$obj->show_errors(0);
By default, error messages will be produced when bad data is passed to any method. By
passing in '0', these will be turned off so that all failures will be silent.
type ( TYPE )
$obj->type($type)
This will set the type of codes that will be worked with. $type may be any of the
recognized types of code sets, including:
country
language
currency
script
etc.
The list of valid types, and the code sets supported in each, are described in the
Locale::Codes::Types document.
This method can be called any number of times to toggle between different types of
code sets.
codeset ( CODESET )
$obj->codeset($codeset);
This sets the default code set to use. The list of code sets available for each type
are described in the Locale::Codes::Types document.
In all other methods below, when an optional CODESET argument is omitted, it will
default to this value.
code2name ( CODE [,CODESET] [,'retired'] )
$name = $obj->code2name($code [,$codeset] [,'retired']);
This functions take a code and returns a string which contains the name of the element
identified. If the code is not a valid code in the CODESET specified then "undef"
will be returned.
The name of the element is the name as specified in the standard, and as a result,
different variations of an element name may be returned for different values of
CODESET.
For example, the alpha-2 country code set defines the two-letter code "bo" to be
"Bolivia, Plurinational State of", whereas the alpha-3 code set defines the code 'bol'
to be the country "Bolivia (Plurinational State of)". So:
$obj->code2name('bo','alpha-2');
=> 'Bolivia, Plurinational State of'
$obj->code2name('bol','alpha-3');
=> 'Bolivia (Plurinational State of)'
By default, only active codes will be used, but if the string 'retired' is passed in
as an argument, both active and retired codes will be examined.
code2names ( CODE [,CODESET] )
@name = $obj->code2names($code [,$codeset]);
This functions take a code and returns a list of all names and aliases associated with
that code.
Only active codes may be used and only active names and aliases will be returned.
name2code ( NAME [,CODESET] [,'retired'] )
$code = $obj->name2code($name [,$codeset] [,'retired']);
This function takes the name of an element (or any of it's aliases) and returns the
code that corresponds to it, if it exists. If NAME could not be identified as the name
of one of the elements, then "undef" will be returned.
The name is not case sensitive. Also, any known variation of a name may be passed in.
For example, even though the country name returned using 'alpha-2' and 'alpha-3'
country codes for Bolivia are different, either country name may be passed in since
for each code set (in addition to the more common alias 'Bolivia'). So:
$obj->name2code('Bolivia, Plurinational State of','alpha-2');
=> bo
$obj->name2code('Bolivia (Plurinational State of)','alpha-2');
=> bo
$obj->name2code('Bolivia','alpha-2');
=> bo
By default, only active names will be used, but if the string 'retired' is passed in
as an argument, both active and retired names will be examined.
code2code ( CODE [,CODESET] ,CODESET2 )
$code = $obj->code2code($code [,$codeset] ,$codeset2);
This function takes a code from one code set (CODESET or the default code set), and
returns the corresponding code from another code set (CODESET2). CODE must exists in
the code set specified by CODESET and must have a corresponding code in the code set
specified by CODESET2 or "undef" will be returned.
$obj->code2code('fin','alpha-3','alpha-2');
=> 'fi'
Note that this function does NOT support retired codes.
all_codes ( [CODESET] [,'retired'] )
@code = $obj->all_codes([$codeset] [,'retired']);
This returns a list of all code in the code set. The codes will be sorted.
By default, only active codes will be returned, but if the string 'retired' is passed
in as an argument, both active and retired codes will be returned.
all_names ( [CODESET] [,'retired'] )
@name = $obj->all_names([$codeset] [,'retired']);
This method returns a list of all elements names for which there is a corresponding
code in the specified code set.
The names returned are exactly as they are specified in the standard, and are sorted.
Since not all elements are listed in all code sets, the list of elements may differ
depending on the code set specified.
By default, only active names will be returned, but if the string 'retired' is passed
in as an argument, both active and retired names will be returned.
The following additional methods are available and can be used to modify the code list
data (and are therefore not generally useful).
rename_code ( CODE ,NEW_NAME [,CODESET] )
$flag = $obj->rename_code($code,$new_name [,$codeset]);
This method can be used to change the official name of an element. At that point, the
name returned by the "code2name" method would be NEW_NAME instead of the name
specified in the standard.
The original name will remain as an alias.
For example, the official country name for code 'gb' is 'United Kingdom'. If you want
to change that, you might call:
$obj->rename_code('gb', 'Great Britain');
This means that calling code2name('gb') will now return 'Great Britain' instead of
'United Kingdom'.
If any error occurs, a warning is issued and 0 is returned. An error occurs if CODE
doesn't exist in the specified code set, or if NEW_NAME is already in use but for a
different element.
If the method succeeds, 1 is returned.
add_code ( CODE ,NAME [,CODESET] )
$flag = $obj->add_code($code,$name [,$codeset]);
This method is used to add a new code and name to the data.
Both CODE and NAME must be unused in the data set or an error occurs (though NAME may
be used in a different data set).
For example, to create the fictitious country named "Duchy of Grand Fenwick" with
codes "gf" and "fen", use the following:
$obj->add_code("fe","Duchy of Grand Fenwick",'alpha-2');
$obj->add_code("fen","Duchy of Grand Fenwick",'alpha-3');
The return value is 1 on success, 0 on an error.
delete_code ( CODE [,CODESET] )
$flag = $obj->delete_code($code [,$codeset]);
This method is used to delete a code from the data.
CODE must refer to an existing code in the code set.
The return value is 1 on success, 0 on an error.
add_alias ( NAME ,NEW_NAME )
$flag = $obj->add_alias($name,$new_name);
This method is used to add a new alias to the data. They do not alter the return value
of the "code2name" function.
NAME must be an existing element name, and NEW_NAME must be unused or an error occurs.
The return value is 1 on success, 0 on an error.
delete_alias ( NAME )
$flag = $obj->delete_alias($name);
This method is used to delete an alias from the data. Once removed, the element may
not be referred to by NAME.
NAME must be one of a list of at least two names that may be used to specify an
element. If the element may only be referred to by a single name, you'll need to use
the "add_alias" method to add a new alias first, or the "remove_code" method to remove
the element entirely.
If the alias is used as the name in any code set, one of the other names will be used
instead. Predicting exactly which one will be used requires you to know the order in
which the standards were read, which is not reliable, so you may want to use the
"rename_code" method to force one of the alternate names to be used.
The return value is 1 on success, 0 on an error.
replace_code ( CODE ,NEW_CODE [,CODESET] )
$flag = $obj->replace_code($code,$new_code [,$codeset]);
This method is used to change the official code for an element. At that point, the
code returned by the "name2code" method would be NEW_CODE instead of the code
specified in the standard.
NEW_CODE may either be a code that is not in use, or it may be an alias for CODE (in
which case, CODE becomes and alias and NEW_CODE becomes the "real" code).
The original code is kept as an alias, so that the "code2name" routines will work with
either the code from the standard or the new code.
However, the "all_codes" method will only return the codes which are considered "real"
(which means that the list of codes will now contain NEW_CODE, but will not contain
CODE).
add_code_alias ( CODE ,NEW_CODE [,CODESET] )
$flag = $obj->add_code_alias($code,$new_code [,$codeset]);
This method adds an alias for the code. At that point, NEW_CODE and CODE will both
work in the "code2name" method. However, the "name2code" method will still return the
original code.
delete_code_alias ( CODE [,CODESET] )
These routines delete an alias for the code.
These will only work if CODE is actually an alias. If it is the "real" code, it will
not be deleted. You will need to use the "rename_code" method to switch the real code
with one of the aliases, and then delete the alias.
TRADITIONAL INTERFACES
In addition the the primary OO module, the following modules are included in the
distribution for the traditional way of working with code sets.
Each module will work with one specific type of code sets.
Locale::Codes::Country, Locale::Country
This includes support for country codes (such as those listed in ISO-3166) to specify
the country.
Because this module was originally distributed as Locale::Country, it is also
available under that name.
Locale::Codes::Language, Locale::Language
This includes support for language codes (such as those listed in ISO-639) to specify
the language.
Because this module was originally distributed as Locale::Language, it is also
available under that name.
Locale::Codes::Currency, Locale::Currency
This includes support for currency codes (such as those listed in ISO-4217) to specify
the currency.
Because this module was originally distributed as Locale::Currency, it is also
available under that name.
Locale::Codes::Script, Locale::Script
This includes support for script codes (such as those listed in ISO-15924) to specify
the script.
Because this module was originally distributed as Locale::Script, it is also available
under that name.
Locale::Codes::LangExt
This includes support for language extension codes (such as those listed in the IANA
language registry) to specify the language extension.
Locale::Codes::LangVar
This includes support for language variation codes (such as those listed in the IANA
language registry) to specify the language variation.
Locale::Codes::LangFam
This includes support for language family codes (such as those listed in ISO 639-5) to
specify families of languages.
In addition to the modules above, there are a number of support modules included in the
distribution. Any module not listed above falls into that category.
These modules are not intended to be used by programmers. They contain functions or data
that are used by the modules listed above. No support of any kind is offered for using
these modules directly. They may be modified at any time.
COMMON ALIASES
As of version 2.00, the modules supported common variants of names.
For example, Locale::Country supports variant names for countries, and a few of the most
common ones are included in the data. The country code for "United States" is "us", so:
country2code('United States');
=> "us"
Now the following will also return 'us':
country2code('United States of America');
country2code('USA');
Any number of common aliases may be included in the data, in addition to the names that
come directly from the standards. If you have a common alias for a country, language, or
any other of the types of codes, let me know and I'll add it, with some restrictions.
For example, the country name "North Korea" never appeared in any of the official sources
(instead, it was "Korea, North" or "Korea, Democratic People's Republic of". I would honor
a request to add an alias "North Korea" since that's a very common way to specify the
country (please don't request this... I've already added it).
On the other hand, a request to add Zaire as an alias for "Congo, The Democratic Republic
of" will not be honored. The country's official name is no longer Zaire, so adding it as
an alias violates the standard. Zaire was kept as an alias in versions of this module
prior to 3.00, but it has been removed. Other aliases (if any) which no longer appear in
any standard (and which are not common variations of the name in the standards) have also
been removed.
RETIRED CODES
Occasionally, a code is deprecated, but it may still be desirable to have access to it.
Although there is no way to see every code that has ever existed and been deprecated
(since most codesets do not have that information available), as of version 3.20, every
code which has ever been included in these modules can be referenced.
For more information, refer to the documentation on the code2name, name2code, all_codes,
and all_names methods above.
SEE ALSO
Locale::Codes::Types
The list of all code sets available for each type.
Locale::Codes::Changes
A history of changes made to this distribution.
KNOWN BUGS AND LIMITATIONS
Relationship between code sets
Because each code set uses a slightly different list of elements, and they are not
necessarily one-to-one, there may be some confusion about the relationship between
codes from different code sets.
For example, ISO 3166 assigns one code to the country "United States Minor Outlying
Islands", but the IANA codes give different codes to different islands (Baker Island,
Howland Island, etc.).
This may cause some confusion... I've done the best that I could do to minimize it.
Non-ASCII characters not supported
Currently all names must be all ASCII. I plan on relaxing that limitation in the
future.
BUGS AND QUESTIONS
If you find a bug in Locale::Codes, there are three ways to send it to me. In order of
preference, they are:
GitHub
You can submit it as an issue on GitHub. This can be done at the following URL:
<https://github.com/SBECK-github/Locale-Codes>
This is the preferred method. Please submit problems requests as GitHub issues if at
all possible.
Direct email
You are welcome to send it directly to me by email. The email address to use is:
sbeck@cpan.org.
Please note that because cpan.org addresses are published, they are used by a lot of
spammers and phishers. Please include the name of the perl module in the subject line
of ALL messages sent to my cpan.org address or it will likely be missed.
CPAN Bug Tracking
You can submit it using the CPAN tracking tool. This can be done at the following
URL:
<http://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=Locale-Codes>
There was discussion of halting this service a while back (though it continues to
function), so only use this as a last resort.
Please do not use other means to report bugs (such as forums for a specific OS or Linux
distribution) as it is impossible for me to keep up with all of them. These are the
current methods that are guaranteed to notify me.
When filing a bug report, please include the following information:
Locale::Codes version
Please include the version of Locale::Codes you are using. You can get this by using
the script:
use Locale::Codes;
print $Locale::Codes::VERSION,"\n";
If you want to report missing or incorrect codes, you must be running the most recent
version of Locale::Codes.
If you find any problems with the documentation (errors, typos, or items that are not
clear), please send them to me. I welcome any suggestions that will allow me to improve
the documentation.
AUTHOR
Locale::Country and Locale::Language were originally written by Neil Bowers at the Canon
Research Centre Europe (CRE). They maintained the distribution from 1997 to 2001.
Locale::Currency was originally written by Michael Hennecke and was modified by Neil
Bowers for inclusion in the distribution.
From 2001 to 2004, maintenance was continued by Neil Bowers. He modified Locale::Currency
for inclusion in the distribution. He also added Locale::Script.
From 2004-2009, the module was unmaintained.
In 2010, maintenance was taken over by Sullivan Beck (sbeck@cpan.org) with Neil Bower's
permission. All problems or comments should be sent to him using any of the methods
listed above.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 1997-2001 Canon Research Centre Europe (CRE).
Copyright (c) 2001 Michael Hennecke (Locale::Currency)
Copyright (c) 2001-2010 Neil Bowers
Copyright (c) 2010-2022 Sullivan Beck
This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same
terms as Perl itself.