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TLDR: localedef (tldr-pages)

Manage locale definition files.

  • List compiled locales
    localedef --list-archive
  • Display help
    localedef {{-?|--help}}
localedef(1)
NAME SYNOPSIS DESCRIPTION OPTIONS EXIT STATUS ENVIRONMENT FILES CONFORMING TO EXAMPLES SEE ALSO COLOPHON
LOCALEDEF(1)                              Linux User Manual                             LOCALEDEF(1)



NAME
       localedef - compile locale definition files

SYNOPSIS
       localedef [options] outputpath
       localedef --add-to-archive [options] compiledpath
       localedef --delete-from-archive [options] localename ...
       localedef --list-archive [options]
       localedef --help
       localedef --usage
       localedef --version

DESCRIPTION
       The  localedef program reads the indicated charmap and input files, compiles them to a binary
       form quickly usable by the locale functions in the C  library  (setlocale(3),  localeconv(3),
       etc.), and places the output in outputpath.

       The outputpath argument is interpreted as follows:

       *  If  outputpath  contains a slash character ('/'), it is interpreted as the name of the di‐
          rectory where the output definitions are to be stored.  In this case, there is a  separate
          output file for each locale category (LC_TIME, LC_NUMERIC, and so on).

       *  If  the  --no-archive  option  is  used,  outputpath  is  the  name  of  a subdirectory in
          /usr/lib/locale where per-category compiled files are placed.

       *  Otherwise, outputpath is the name of a locale and the compiled locale data is added to the
          archive  file  /usr/lib/locale/locale-archive.   A  locale archive is a memory-mapped file
          which contains all the system-provided locales; it is used by all localized programs  when
          the environment variable LOCPATH is not set.

       In  any  case,  localedef aborts if the directory in which it tries to write locale files has
       not already been created.

       If no charmapfile is given, the value ANSI_X3.4-1968 (for ASCII) is used by default.   If  no
       inputfile is given, or if it is given as a dash (-), localedef reads from standard input.

OPTIONS
   Operation-selection options
       A  few  options direct localedef to do something other than compile locale definitions.  Only
       one of these options should be used at a time.

       --add-to-archive
              Add the compiledpath directories to the locale archive file.  The  directories  should
              have been created by previous runs of localedef, using --no-archive.

       --delete-from-archive
              Delete the named locales from the locale archive file.

       --list-archive
              List the locales contained in the locale archive file.

   Other options
       Some  of the following options are sensible only for certain operations; generally, it should
       be self-evident which ones.  Notice that -f and -c are reversed from what you  might  expect;
       that is, -f is not the same as --force.

       -f charmapfile, --charmap=charmapfile
              Specify  the  file  that defines the character set that is used by the input file.  If
              charmapfile contains a slash character ('/'), it is interpreted as  the  name  of  the
              character map.  Otherwise, the file is sought in the current directory and the default
              directory  for  character  maps.   If  the  environment  variable  I18NPATH  is   set,
              $I18NPATH/charmaps/ and $I18NPATH/ are also searched after the current directory.  The
              default directory for character maps is printed by localedef --help.

       -i inputfile, --inputfile=inputfile
              Specify the locale definition file to compile.  The file is sought in the current  di‐
              rectory  and  the  default  directory for locale definition files.  If the environment
              variable I18NPATH is set, $I18NPATH/locales/ and $I18NPATH are also searched after the
              current  directory.   The  default directory for locale definition files is printed by
              localedef --help.

       -u repertoirefile, --repertoire-map=repertoirefile
              Read mappings from symbolic names to Unicode  code  points  from  repertoirefile.   If
              repertoirefile  contains a slash character ('/'), it is interpreted as the pathname of
              the repertoire map.  Otherwise, the file is sought in the current  directory  and  the
              default  directory  for repertoire maps.  If the environment variable I18NPATH is set,
              $I18NPATH/repertoiremaps/ and $I18NPATH are also searched after the current directory.
              The default directory for repertoire maps is printed by localedef --help.

       -A aliasfile, --alias-file=aliasfile
              Use aliasfile to look up aliases for locale names.  There is no default aliases file.

       -c, --force
              Write the output files even if warnings were generated about the input file.

       -v, --verbose
              Generate extra warnings about errors that are normally ignored.

       --big-endian
              Generate big-endian output.

       --little-endian
              Generate little-endian output.

       --no-archive
              Do not use the locale archive file, instead create outputpath as a subdirectory in the
              same directory as the locale archive file, and create separate output files for locale
              categories in it.  This is helpful to prevent system locale archive updates from over‐
              writing custom locales created with localedef.

       --no-hard-links
              Do not create hard links between installed locales.

       --no-warnings=warnings
              Comma-separated list of  warnings  to  disable.   Supported  warnings  are  ascii  and
              intcurrsym.

       --posix
              Conform strictly to POSIX.  Implies --verbose.  This option currently has no other ef‐
              fect.  POSIX conformance is assumed if the  environment  variable  POSIXLY_CORRECT  is
              set.

       --prefix=pathname
              Set  the  prefix to be prepended to the full archive pathname.  By default, the prefix
              is empty.  Setting the prefix to foo, the archive would be placed  in  foo/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive.

       --quiet
              Suppress all notifications and warnings, and report only fatal errors.

       --replace
              Replace a locale in the locale archive file.  Without this option, if the locale is in
              the archive file already, an error occurs.

       --warnings=warnings
              Comma-separated list  of  warnings  to  enable.   Supported  warnings  are  ascii  and
              intcurrsym.

       -?, --help
              Print a usage summary and exit.  Also prints the default paths used by localedef.

       --usage
              Print a short usage summary and exit.

       -V, --version
              Print the version number, license, and disclaimer of warranty for localedef.

EXIT STATUS
       One of the following exit values can be returned by localedef:

       0      Command completed successfully.

       1      Warnings or errors occurred, output files were written.

       4      Errors encountered, no output created.

ENVIRONMENT
       POSIXLY_CORRECT
              The --posix flag is assumed if this environment variable is set.

       I18NPATH
              A colon-separated list of search directories for files.

FILES
       /usr/share/i18n/charmaps
              Usual default character map path.

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

       /usr/share/i18n/repertoiremaps
              Usual default repertoire map path.

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

       /usr/lib/locale
              Usual default path for compiled individual locale data files.

       outputpath/LC_ADDRESS
              An  output file that contains information about formatting of addresses and geography-
              related items.

       outputpath/LC_COLLATE
              An output file that contains information about the rules for comparing strings.

       outputpath/LC_CTYPE
              An output file that contains information about character classes.

       outputpath/LC_IDENTIFICATION
              An output file that contains metadata about the locale.

       outputpath/LC_MEASUREMENT
              An output file that contains information about locale measurements (metric  versus  US
              customary).

       outputpath/LC_MESSAGES/SYS_LC_MESSAGES
              An output file that contains information about the language messages should be printed
              in, and what an affirmative or negative answer looks like.

       outputpath/LC_MONETARY
              An output file that contains information about formatting of monetary values.

       outputpath/LC_NAME
              An output file that contains information about salutations for persons.

       outputpath/LC_NUMERIC
              An output file that contains information about formatting of nonmonetary numeric  val‐
              ues.

       outputpath/LC_PAPER
              An  output  file  that  contains  information about settings related to standard paper
              size.

       outputpath/LC_TELEPHONE
              An output file that contains information about formats to be used with telephone  ser‐
              vices.

       outputpath/LC_TIME
              An output file that contains information about formatting of data and time values.

CONFORMING TO
       POSIX.1-2008.

EXAMPLES
       Compile the locale files for Finnish in the UTF-8 character set and add it to the default lo‐
       cale archive with the name fi_FI.UTF-8:

           localedef -f UTF-8 -i fi_FI fi_FI.UTF-8

       The next example does the same thing, but generates  files  into  the  fi_FI.UTF-8  directory
       which  can  then be used by programs when the environment variable LOCPATH is set to the cur‐
       rent directory (note that the last argument must contain a slash):

           localedef -f UTF-8 -i fi_FI ./fi_FI.UTF-8

SEE ALSO
       locale(1), charmap(5), locale(5), repertoiremap(5), locale(7)

COLOPHON
       This page is part of release 5.10 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/.



Linux                                        2020-04-11                                 LOCALEDEF(1)

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