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<H1><A NAME="SECTION0082700000000000000000">
6.27 <tt class="module">locale</tt> --
Internationalization services</A>
</H1>
<P>
<A NAME="module-locale"></A>
<P>
The <tt class="module">locale</tt> module opens access to the POSIX locale
database and functionality. The POSIX locale mechanism allows
programmers to deal with certain cultural issues in an application,
without requiring the programmer to know all the specifics of each
country where the software is executed.
<P>
The <tt class="module">locale</tt> module is implemented on top of the
<tt class="module">_locale</tt><a id='l2h-2405' xml:id='l2h-2405'></a> module, which in turn uses an
ANSI C locale implementation if available.
<P>
The <tt class="module">locale</tt> module defines the following exception and
functions:
<P>
<dl><dt><b><span class="typelabel">exception</span> <tt id='l2h-2362' xml:id='l2h-2362' class="exception">Error</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Exception raised when <tt class="function">setlocale()</tt> fails.
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
<td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-2363' xml:id='l2h-2363' class="function">setlocale</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
<td><var>category</var><big>[</big><var>, locale</var><big>]</big><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
If <var>locale</var> is specified, it may be a string, a tuple of the
form <code>(<var>language code</var>, <var>encoding</var>)</code>, or <code>None</code>.
If it is a tuple, it is converted to a string using the locale
aliasing engine. If <var>locale</var> is given and not <code>None</code>,
<tt class="function">setlocale()</tt> modifies the locale setting for the
<var>category</var>. The available categories are listed in the data
description below. The value is the name of a locale. An empty
string specifies the user's default settings. If the modification of
the locale fails, the exception <tt class="exception">Error</tt> is raised. If
successful, the new locale setting is returned.
<P>
If <var>locale</var> is omitted or <code>None</code>, the current setting for
<var>category</var> is returned.
<P>
<tt class="function">setlocale()</tt> is not thread safe on most systems.
Applications typically start with a call of
<P>
<div class="verbatim"><pre>
import locale
locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, '')
</pre></div>
<P>
This sets the locale for all categories to the user's default
setting (typically specified in the <a class="envvar" id='l2h-2406' xml:id='l2h-2406'>LANG</a> environment
variable). If the locale is not changed thereafter, using
multithreading should not cause problems.
<P>
<span class="versionnote">Changed in version 2.0:
Added support for tuple values of the <var>locale</var>
parameter.</span>
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
<td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-2364' xml:id='l2h-2364' class="function">localeconv</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
<td><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Returns the database of the local conventions as a dictionary.
This dictionary has the following strings as keys:
<P>
<div class="center"><table class="realtable">
<thead>
<tr>
<th class="left" >Key</th>
<th class="left" >Category</th>
<th class="left" >Meaning</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>LC_NUMERIC</code></td>
<td class="left" ><code>'decimal_point'</code></td>
<td class="left" >Decimal point character.</td></tr>
<tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code></code></td>
<td class="left" ><code>'grouping'</code></td>
<td class="left" >Sequence of numbers specifying which relative positions
the <code>'thousands_sep'</code> is expected. If the sequence is
terminated with <tt class="constant">CHAR_MAX</tt>, no further grouping
is performed. If the sequence terminates with a <code>0</code>,
the last group size is repeatedly used.</td></tr>
<tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code></code></td>
<td class="left" ><code>'thousands_sep'</code></td>
<td class="left" >Character used between groups.</td></tr>
<tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code>LC_MONETARY</code></td>
<td class="left" ><code>'int_curr_symbol'</code></td>
<td class="left" >International currency symbol.</td></tr>
<tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code></code></td>
<td class="left" ><code>'currency_symbol'</code></td>
<td class="left" >Local currency symbol.</td></tr>
<tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code></code></td>
<td class="left" ><code>'mon_decimal_point'</code></td>
<td class="left" >Decimal point used for monetary values.</td></tr>
<tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code></code></td>
<td class="left" ><code>'mon_thousands_sep'</code></td>
<td class="left" >Group separator used for monetary values.</td></tr>
<tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code></code></td>
<td class="left" ><code>'mon_grouping'</code></td>
<td class="left" >Equivalent to <code>'grouping'</code>, used for monetary
values.</td></tr>
<tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code></code></td>
<td class="left" ><code>'positive_sign'</code></td>
<td class="left" >Symbol used to annotate a positive monetary value.</td></tr>
<tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code></code></td>
<td class="left" ><code>'negative_sign'</code></td>
<td class="left" >Symbol used to annotate a negative monetary value.</td></tr>
<tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code></code></td>
<td class="left" ><code>'frac_digits'</code></td>
<td class="left" >Number of fractional digits used in local formatting
of monetary values.</td></tr>
<tr><td class="left" valign="baseline"><code></code></td>
<td class="left" ><code>'int_frac_digits'</code></td>
<td class="left" >Number of fractional digits used in international
formatting of monetary values.</td></tr></tbody>
</table></div>
<P>
The possible values for <code>'p_sign_posn'</code> and
<code>'n_sign_posn'</code> are given below.
<P>
<div class="center"><table class="realtable">
<thead>
<tr>
<th class="center">Value</th>
<th class="left" >Explanation</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td class="center" valign="baseline"><code>0</code></td>
<td class="left" >Currency and value are surrounded by parentheses.</td></tr>
<tr><td class="center" valign="baseline"><code>1</code></td>
<td class="left" >The sign should precede the value and currency symbol.</td></tr>
<tr><td class="center" valign="baseline"><code>2</code></td>
<td class="left" >The sign should follow the value and currency symbol.</td></tr>
<tr><td class="center" valign="baseline"><code>3</code></td>
<td class="left" >The sign should immediately precede the value.</td></tr>
<tr><td class="center" valign="baseline"><code>4</code></td>
<td class="left" >The sign should immediately follow the value.</td></tr>
<tr><td class="center" valign="baseline"><code><tt class="constant">LC_MAX</tt></code></td>
<td class="left" >Nothing is specified in this locale.</td></tr></tbody>
</table></div>
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
<td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-2365' xml:id='l2h-2365' class="function">nl_langinfo</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
<td><var>option</var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
<P>
Return some locale-specific information as a string. This function is
not available on all systems, and the set of possible options might
also vary across platforms. The possible argument values are numbers,
for which symbolic constants are available in the locale module.
<P>
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
<td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-2366' xml:id='l2h-2366' class="function">getdefaultlocale</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
<td><var></var><big>[</big><var>envvars</var><big>]</big><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Tries to determine the default locale settings and returns
them as a tuple of the form <code>(<var>language code</var>,
<var>encoding</var>)</code>.
<P>
According to POSIX, a program which has not called
<code>setlocale(LC_ALL, '')</code> runs using the portable <code>'C'</code>
locale. Calling <code>setlocale(LC_ALL, '')</code> lets it use the
default locale as defined by the <a class="envvar" id='l2h-2407' xml:id='l2h-2407'>LANG</a> variable. Since we
do not want to interfere with the current locale setting we thus
emulate the behavior in the way described above.
<P>
To maintain compatibility with other platforms, not only the
<a class="envvar" id='l2h-2408' xml:id='l2h-2408'>LANG</a> variable is tested, but a list of variables given as
envvars parameter. The first found to be defined will be
used. <var>envvars</var> defaults to the search path used in GNU gettext;
it must always contain the variable name "<tt class="samp">LANG</tt>". The GNU
gettext search path contains <code>'LANGUAGE'</code>, <code>'LC_ALL'</code>,
<code>'LC_CTYPE'</code>, and <code>'LANG'</code>, in that order.
<P>
Except for the code <code>'C'</code>, the language code corresponds to
<a class="rfc" id='rfcref-88999' xml:id='rfcref-88999'
href="http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1766.html">RFC 1766</a>. <var>language code</var> and <var>encoding</var> may be
<code>None</code> if their values cannot be determined.
<span class="versionnote">New in version 2.0.</span>
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
<td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-2367' xml:id='l2h-2367' class="function">getlocale</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
<td><var></var><big>[</big><var>category</var><big>]</big><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Returns the current setting for the given locale category as
sequence containing <var>language code</var>, <var>encoding</var>.
<var>category</var> may be one of the <tt class="constant">LC_*</tt> values except
<tt class="constant">LC_ALL</tt>. It defaults to <tt class="constant">LC_CTYPE</tt>.
<P>
Except for the code <code>'C'</code>, the language code corresponds to
<a class="rfc" id='rfcref-89001' xml:id='rfcref-89001'
href="http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1766.html">RFC 1766</a>. <var>language code</var> and <var>encoding</var> may be
<code>None</code> if their values cannot be determined.
<span class="versionnote">New in version 2.0.</span>
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
<td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-2368' xml:id='l2h-2368' class="function">getpreferredencoding</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
<td><var></var><big>[</big><var>do_setlocale</var><big>]</big><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Return the encoding used for text data, according to user
preferences. User preferences are expressed differently on
different systems, and might not be available programmatically on
some systems, so this function only returns a guess.
<P>
On some systems, it is necessary to invoke <tt class="function">setlocale</tt>
to obtain the user preferences, so this function is not thread-safe.
If invoking setlocale is not necessary or desired, <var>do_setlocale</var>
should be set to <code>False</code>.
<P>
<span class="versionnote">New in version 2.3.</span>
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
<td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-2369' xml:id='l2h-2369' class="function">normalize</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
<td><var>localename</var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Returns a normalized locale code for the given locale name. The
returned locale code is formatted for use with
<tt class="function">setlocale()</tt>. If normalization fails, the original name
is returned unchanged.
<P>
If the given encoding is not known, the function defaults to
the default encoding for the locale code just like
<tt class="function">setlocale()</tt>.
<span class="versionnote">New in version 2.0.</span>
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
<td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-2370' xml:id='l2h-2370' class="function">resetlocale</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
<td><var></var><big>[</big><var>category</var><big>]</big><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Sets the locale for <var>category</var> to the default setting.
<P>
The default setting is determined by calling
<tt class="function">getdefaultlocale()</tt>. <var>category</var> defaults to
<tt class="constant">LC_ALL</tt>.
<span class="versionnote">New in version 2.0.</span>
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
<td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-2371' xml:id='l2h-2371' class="function">strcoll</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
<td><var>string1, string2</var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Compares two strings according to the current
<tt class="constant">LC_COLLATE</tt> setting. As any other compare function,
returns a negative, or a positive value, or <code>0</code>, depending on
whether <var>string1</var> collates before or after <var>string2</var> or is
equal to it.
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
<td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-2372' xml:id='l2h-2372' class="function">strxfrm</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
<td><var>string</var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Transforms a string to one that can be used for the built-in
function <tt class="function">cmp()</tt><a id='l2h-2373' xml:id='l2h-2373'></a>, and still returns
locale-aware results. This function can be used when the same
string is compared repeatedly, e.g. when collating a sequence of
strings.
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
<td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-2374' xml:id='l2h-2374' class="function">format</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
<td><var>format, val</var><big>[</big><var>, grouping</var><big>]</big><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Formats a number <var>val</var> according to the current
<tt class="constant">LC_NUMERIC</tt> setting. The format follows the conventions
of the <code>%</code> operator. For floating point values, the decimal
point is modified if appropriate. If <var>grouping</var> is true, also
takes the grouping into account.
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
<td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-2375' xml:id='l2h-2375' class="function">str</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
<td><var>float</var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Formats a floating point number using the same format as the
built-in function <code>str(<var>float</var>)</code>, but takes the decimal
point into account.
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
<td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-2376' xml:id='l2h-2376' class="function">atof</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
<td><var>string</var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Converts a string to a floating point number, following the
<tt class="constant">LC_NUMERIC</tt> settings.
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
<td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-2377' xml:id='l2h-2377' class="function">atoi</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
<td><var>string</var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Converts a string to an integer, following the
<tt class="constant">LC_NUMERIC</tt> conventions.
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2378' xml:id='l2h-2378'>LC_CTYPE</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
<a id='l2h-2409' xml:id='l2h-2409'></a>
Locale category for the character type functions. Depending on the
settings of this category, the functions of module
<tt class="module"><a href="module-string.html">string</a></tt> dealing with case change their behaviour.
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2379' xml:id='l2h-2379'>LC_COLLATE</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Locale category for sorting strings. The functions
<tt class="function">strcoll()</tt> and <tt class="function">strxfrm()</tt> of the
<tt class="module">locale</tt> module are affected.
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2380' xml:id='l2h-2380'>LC_TIME</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Locale category for the formatting of time. The function
<tt class="function">time.strftime()</tt> follows these conventions.
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2381' xml:id='l2h-2381'>LC_MONETARY</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Locale category for formatting of monetary values. The available
options are available from the <tt class="function">localeconv()</tt> function.
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2382' xml:id='l2h-2382'>LC_MESSAGES</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Locale category for message display. Python currently does not
support application specific locale-aware messages. Messages
displayed by the operating system, like those returned by
<tt class="function">os.strerror()</tt> might be affected by this category.
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2383' xml:id='l2h-2383'>LC_NUMERIC</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Locale category for formatting numbers. The functions
<tt class="function">format()</tt>, <tt class="function">atoi()</tt>, <tt class="function">atof()</tt> and
<tt class="function">str()</tt> of the <tt class="module">locale</tt> module are affected by that
category. All other numeric formatting operations are not
affected.
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2384' xml:id='l2h-2384'>LC_ALL</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Combination of all locale settings. If this flag is used when the
locale is changed, setting the locale for all categories is
attempted. If that fails for any category, no category is changed at
all. When the locale is retrieved using this flag, a string
indicating the setting for all categories is returned. This string
can be later used to restore the settings.
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2385' xml:id='l2h-2385'>CHAR_MAX</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
This is a symbolic constant used for different values returned by
<tt class="function">localeconv()</tt>.
</dd></dl>
<P>
The <tt class="function">nl_langinfo</tt> function accepts one of the following keys.
Most descriptions are taken from the corresponding description in the
GNU C library.
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2386' xml:id='l2h-2386'>CODESET</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Return a string with the name of the character encoding used in the
selected locale.
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2387' xml:id='l2h-2387'>D_T_FMT</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Return a string that can be used as a format string for strftime(3) to
represent time and date in a locale-specific way.
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2388' xml:id='l2h-2388'>D_FMT</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Return a string that can be used as a format string for strftime(3) to
represent a date in a locale-specific way.
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2389' xml:id='l2h-2389'>T_FMT</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Return a string that can be used as a format string for strftime(3) to
represent a time in a locale-specific way.
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2390' xml:id='l2h-2390'>T_FMT_AMPM</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
The return value can be used as a format string for `strftime' to
represent time in the am/pm format.
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2391' xml:id='l2h-2391'>DAY_1 ... DAY_7</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Return name of the n-th day of the week. <span class="warning"><b class="label">Warning:</b>
This
follows the US convention of <tt class="constant">DAY_1</tt> being Sunday, not the
international convention (ISO 8601) that Monday is the first day of
the week.</span>
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2392' xml:id='l2h-2392'>ABDAY_1 ... ABDAY_7</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Return abbreviated name of the n-th day of the week.
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2393' xml:id='l2h-2393'>MON_1 ... MON_12</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Return name of the n-th month.
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2394' xml:id='l2h-2394'>ABMON_1 ... ABMON_12</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Return abbreviated name of the n-th month.
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2395' xml:id='l2h-2395'>RADIXCHAR</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Return radix character (decimal dot, decimal comma, etc.)
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2396' xml:id='l2h-2396'>THOUSEP</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Return separator character for thousands (groups of three digits).
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2397' xml:id='l2h-2397'>YESEXPR</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Return a regular expression that can be used with the regex
function to recognize a positive response to a yes/no question.
<span class="warning"><b class="label">Warning:</b>
The expression is in the syntax suitable for the
<tt class="cfunction">regex()</tt> function from the C library, which might differ
from the syntax used in <tt class="module"><a href="module-re.html">re</a></tt>.</span>
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2398' xml:id='l2h-2398'>NOEXPR</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Return a regular expression that can be used with the regex(3)
function to recognize a negative response to a yes/no question.
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2399' xml:id='l2h-2399'>CRNCYSTR</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Return the currency symbol, preceded by "-" if the symbol should
appear before the value, "+" if the symbol should appear after the
value, or "." if the symbol should replace the radix character.
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2400' xml:id='l2h-2400'>ERA</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
The return value represents the era used in the current locale.
<P>
Most locales do not define this value. An example of a locale which
does define this value is the Japanese one. In Japan, the traditional
representation of dates includes the name of the era corresponding to
the then-emperor's reign.
<P>
Normally it should not be necessary to use this value directly.
Specifying the <code>E</code> modifier in their format strings causes the
<tt class="function">strftime</tt> function to use this information. The format of the
returned string is not specified, and therefore you should not assume
knowledge of it on different systems.
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2401' xml:id='l2h-2401'>ERA_YEAR</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
The return value gives the year in the relevant era of the locale.
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2402' xml:id='l2h-2402'>ERA_D_T_FMT</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
This return value can be used as a format string for
<tt class="function">strftime</tt> to represent dates and times in a locale-specific
era-based way.
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2403' xml:id='l2h-2403'>ERA_D_FMT</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
This return value can be used as a format string for
<tt class="function">strftime</tt> to represent time in a locale-specific era-based
way.
</dd></dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2404' xml:id='l2h-2404'>ALT_DIGITS</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
The return value is a representation of up to 100 values used to
represent the values 0 to 99.
</dd></dl>
<P>
Example:
<P>
<div class="verbatim"><pre>
>>> import locale
>>> loc = locale.getlocale(locale.LC_ALL) # get current locale
>>> locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, 'de_DE') # use German locale; name might vary with platform
>>> locale.strcoll('f\xe4n', 'foo') # compare a string containing an umlaut
>>> locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, '') # use user's preferred locale
>>> locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, 'C') # use default (C) locale
>>> locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, loc) # restore saved locale
</pre></div>
<P>
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