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PROLOG
This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux implementation of this interface
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NAME
localeconv — return locale-specific information
SYNOPSIS
#include <locale.h>
struct lconv *localeconv(void);
DESCRIPTION
The functionality described on this reference page is aligned with the ISO C standard. Any conflict
between the requirements described here and the ISO C standard is unintentional. This volume of
POSIX.1‐2008 defers to the ISO C standard.
The localeconv() function shall set the components of an object with the type struct lconv with the
values appropriate for the formatting of numeric quantities (monetary and otherwise) according to the
rules of the current locale.
The members of the structure with type char * are pointers to strings, any of which (except
decimal_point) can point to "", to indicate that the value is not available in the current locale or is
of zero length. The members with type char are non-negative numbers, any of which can be {CHAR_MAX} to
indicate that the value is not available in the current locale.
The members include the following:
char *decimal_point
The radix character used to format non-monetary quantities.
char *thousands_sep
The character used to separate groups of digits before the decimal-point character in formatted
non-monetary quantities.
char *grouping
A string whose elements taken as one-byte integer values indicate the size of each group of digits
in formatted non-monetary quantities.
char *int_curr_symbol
The international currency symbol applicable to the current locale. The first three characters
contain the alphabetic international currency symbol in accordance with those specified in the
ISO 4217:2001 standard. The fourth character (immediately preceding the null byte) is the character
used to separate the international currency symbol from the monetary quantity.
char *currency_symbol
The local currency symbol applicable to the current locale.
char *mon_decimal_point
The radix character used to format monetary quantities.
char *mon_thousands_sep
The separator for groups of digits before the decimal-point in formatted monetary quantities.
char *mon_grouping
A string whose elements taken as one-byte integer values indicate the size of each group of digits
in formatted monetary quantities.
char *positive_sign
The string used to indicate a non-negative valued formatted monetary quantity.
char *negative_sign
The string used to indicate a negative valued formatted monetary quantity.
char int_frac_digits
The number of fractional digits (those after the decimal-point) to be displayed in an
internationally formatted monetary quantity.
char frac_digits
The number of fractional digits (those after the decimal-point) to be displayed in a formatted
monetary quantity.
char p_cs_precedes
Set to 1 if the currency_symbol precedes the value for a non-negative formatted monetary quantity.
Set to 0 if the symbol succeeds the value.
char p_sep_by_space
Set to a value indicating the separation of the currency_symbol, the sign string, and the value for
a non-negative formatted monetary quantity.
char n_cs_precedes
Set to 1 if the currency_symbol precedes the value for a negative formatted monetary quantity. Set
to 0 if the symbol succeeds the value.
char n_sep_by_space
Set to a value indicating the separation of the currency_symbol, the sign string, and the value for
a negative formatted monetary quantity.
char p_sign_posn
Set to a value indicating the positioning of the positive_sign for a non-negative formatted
monetary quantity.
char n_sign_posn
Set to a value indicating the positioning of the negative_sign for a negative formatted monetary
quantity.
char int_p_cs_precedes
Set to 1 or 0 if the int_curr_symbol respectively precedes or succeeds the value for a non-negative
internationally formatted monetary quantity.
char int_n_cs_precedes
Set to 1 or 0 if the int_curr_symbol respectively precedes or succeeds the value for a negative
internationally formatted monetary quantity.
char int_p_sep_by_space
Set to a value indicating the separation of the int_curr_symbol, the sign string, and the value for
a non-negative internationally formatted monetary quantity.
char int_n_sep_by_space
Set to a value indicating the separation of the int_curr_symbol, the sign string, and the value for
a negative internationally formatted monetary quantity.
char int_p_sign_posn
Set to a value indicating the positioning of the positive_sign for a non-negative internationally
formatted monetary quantity.
char int_n_sign_posn
Set to a value indicating the positioning of the negative_sign for a negative internationally
formatted monetary quantity.
The elements of grouping and mon_grouping are interpreted according to the following:
{CHAR_MAX} No further grouping is to be performed.
0 The previous element is to be repeatedly used for the remainder of the digits.
other The integer value is the number of digits that comprise the current group. The next element
is examined to determine the size of the next group of digits before the current group.
The values of p_sep_by_space, n_sep_by_space, int_p_sep_by_space, and int_n_sep_by_space are interpreted
according to the following:
0 No space separates the currency symbol and value.
1 If the currency symbol and sign string are adjacent, a space separates them from the value;
otherwise, a space separates the currency symbol from the value.
2 If the currency symbol and sign string are adjacent, a space separates them; otherwise, a space
separates the sign string from the value.
For int_p_sep_by_space and int_n_sep_by_space, the fourth character of int_curr_symbol is used instead of
a space.
The values of p_sign_posn, n_sign_posn, int_p_sign_posn, and int_n_sign_posn are interpreted according to
the following:
0 Parentheses surround the quantity and currency_symbol or int_curr_symbol.
1 The sign string precedes the quantity and currency_symbol or int_curr_symbol.
2 The sign string succeeds the quantity and currency_symbol or int_curr_symbol.
3 The sign string immediately precedes the currency_symbol or int_curr_symbol.
4 The sign string immediately succeeds the currency_symbol or int_curr_symbol.
The implementation shall behave as if no function in this volume of POSIX.1‐2008 calls localeconv().
The localeconv() function need not be thread-safe.
RETURN VALUE
The localeconv() function shall return a pointer to the filled-in object. The application shall not
modify the structure to which the return value points, nor any storage areas pointed to by pointers
within the structure. The returned pointer, and pointers within the structure, might be invalidated or
the structure or the storage areas might be overwritten by a subsequent call to localeconv(). In
addition, the returned pointer, and pointers within the structure, might be invalidated or the structure
or the storage areas might be overwritten by subsequent calls to setlocale() with the categories LC_ALL,
LC_MONETARY, or LC_NUMERIC, or by calls to uselocale() which change the categories LC_MONETARY or
LC_NUMERIC.
ERRORS
No errors are defined.
The following sections are informative.
EXAMPLES
None.
APPLICATION USAGE
The following table illustrates the rules which may be used by four countries to format monetary
quantities.
┌─────────────┬─────────────────┬─────────────────┬──────────────────────┐
│ Country │ Positive Format │ Negative Format │ International Format │
├─────────────┼─────────────────┼─────────────────┼──────────────────────┤
│ Italy │ €.1.230 │ −€.1.230 │ EUR.1.230 │
│ Netherlands │ € 1.234,56 │ € −1.234,56 │ EUR 1.234,56 │
│ Norway │ kr1.234,56 │ kr1.234,56− │ NOK 1.234,56 │
│ Switzerland │ SFrs.1,234.56 │ SFrs.1,234.56C │ CHF 1,234.56 │
└─────────────┴─────────────────┴─────────────────┴──────────────────────┘
For these four countries, the respective values for the monetary members of the structure returned by
localeconv() are:
┌────────────────────┬────────┬─────────────┬────────┬─────────────┐
│ │ Italy │ Netherlands │ Norway │ Switzerland │
├────────────────────┼────────┼─────────────┼────────┼─────────────┤
│ int_curr_symbol │ "EUR." │ "EUR " │ "NOK " │ "CHF " │
│ currency_symbol │ "€." │ "€" │ "kr" │ "SFrs." │
│ mon_decimal_point │ "" │ "," │ "," │ "." │
│ mon_thousands_sep │ "." │ "." │ "." │ "," │
│ mon_grouping │ "\3" │ "\3" │ "\3" │ "\3" │
│ positive_sign │ "" │ "" │ "" │ "" │
│ negative_sign │ "-" │ "-" │ "-" │ "C" │
│ int_frac_digits │ 0 │ 2 │ 2 │ 2 │
│ frac_digits │ 0 │ 2 │ 2 │ 2 │
│ p_cs_precedes │ 1 │ 1 │ 1 │ 1 │
│ p_sep_by_space │ 0 │ 1 │ 0 │ 0 │
│ n_cs_precedes │ 1 │ 1 │ 1 │ 1 │
│ n_sep_by_space │ 0 │ 1 │ 0 │ 0 │
│ p_sign_posn │ 1 │ 1 │ 1 │ 1 │
│ n_sign_posn │ 1 │ 4 │ 2 │ 2 │
│ int_p_cs_precedes │ 1 │ 1 │ 1 │ 1 │
│ int_n_cs_precedes │ 1 │ 1 │ 1 │ 1 │
│ int_p_sep_by_space │ 0 │ 0 │ 0 │ 0 │
│ int_n_sep_by_space │ 0 │ 0 │ 0 │ 0 │
│ int_p_sign_posn │ 1 │ 1 │ 1 │ 1 │
│ int_n_sign_posn │ 1 │ 4 │ 4 │ 2 │
└────────────────────┴────────┴─────────────┴────────┴─────────────┘
RATIONALE
None.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.
SEE ALSO
fprintf(), fscanf(), isalpha(), isascii(), nl_langinfo(), setlocale(), strcat(), strchr(), strcmp(),
strcoll(), strcpy(), strftime(), strlen(), strpbrk(), strspn(), strtok(), strxfrm(), strtod(),
uselocale()
The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2008, <langinfo.h>, <locale.h>
COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2013 Edition,
Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
Specifications Issue 7, Copyright (C) 2013 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc
and The Open Group. (This is POSIX.1-2008 with the 2013 Technical Corrigendum 1 applied.) In the event
of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original
IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at
http://www.unix.org/online.html .
Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are most likely to have been introduced
during the conversion of the source files to man page format. To report such errors, see
https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .
IEEE/The Open Group 2013 LOCALECONV(3POSIX)