NAME

       I18N::Collate - compare 8-bit scalar data according to the current locale

SYNOPSIS

           use I18N::Collate;
           setlocale(LC_COLLATE, 'locale-of-your-choice');
           $s1 = I18N::Collate->new("scalar_data_1");
           $s2 = I18N::Collate->new("scalar_data_2");

DESCRIPTION

         ***

         WARNING: starting from the Perl version 5.003_06
         the I18N::Collate interface for comparing 8-bit scalar data
         according to the current locale

               HAS BEEN DEPRECATED

         That is, please do not use it anymore for any new applications
         and please migrate the old applications away from it because its
         functionality was integrated into the Perl core language in the
         release 5.003_06.

         See the perllocale manual page for further information.

         ***

       This module provides you with objects that will collate according to your national
       character set, provided that the POSIX setlocale() function is supported on your system.

       You can compare $s1 and $s2 above with

           $s1 le $s2

       to extract the data itself, you'll need a dereference: $$s1

       This module uses POSIX::setlocale(). The basic collation conversion is done by strxfrm()
       which terminates at NUL characters being a decent C routine.  collate_xfrm() handles
       embedded NUL characters gracefully.

       The available locales depend on your operating system; try whether "locale -a" shows them
       or man pages for "locale" or "nlsinfo" or the direct approach "ls /usr/lib/nls/loc" or "ls
       /usr/lib/nls" or "ls /usr/lib/locale".  Not all the locales that your vendor supports are
       necessarily installed: please consult your operating system's documentation and possibly
       your local system administration.  The locale names are probably something like
       "xx_XX.(ISO)?8859-N" or "xx_XX.(ISO)?8859N", for example "fr_CH.ISO8859-1" is the Swiss
       (CH) variant of French (fr), ISO Latin (8859) 1 (-1) which is the Western European
       character set.