NL_LANGINFO(3P)

PROLOG
This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.

NAME
nl_langinfo - language information

SYNOPSIS

#include <langinfo.h>

char *nl_langinfo(nl_item item);

DESCRIPTION

The nl_langinfo() function shall return a pointer to a string containing information relevant to the particular language or cultural area defined in the program's locale (see <langinfo.h>). The manifest constant names and values of item are defined in <langinfo.h>. For example:

    nl_langinfo(ABDAY_1)

would return a pointer to the string "Dom" if the identified language was Portuguese, and "Sun" if the identified language was English.

Calls to setlocale() with a category corresponding to the category of item (see <langinfo.h>), or to the category LC_ALL , may overwrite the array pointed to by the return value.

The nl_langinfo() function need not be reentrant. A function that is not required to be reentrant is not required to be thread-safe.

RETURN VALUE

In a locale where langinfo data is not defined, nl_langinfo() shall return a pointer to the corresponding string in the POSIX locale. In all locales, nl_langinfo() shall return a pointer to an empty string if item contains an invalid setting.

This pointer may point to static data that may be overwritten on the next call.

ERRORS

No errors are defined.

The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES

  Getting Date and Time Formatting Information

The following example returns a pointer to a string containing date and time formatting information, as defined in the LC_TIME category of the current locale.

    #include <time.h>
    #include <langinfo.h>
    ...
    strftime(datestring, sizeof(datestring), nl_langinfo(D_T_FMT), tm);
    ...

APPLICATION USAGE

The array pointed to by the return value should not be modified by the program, but may be modified by further calls to nl_langinfo().

RATIONALE

None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

None.

SEE ALSO

setlocale(), the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Chapter 7, Locale, <langinfo.h>, <nl_types.h>

COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. 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.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .