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<!-- %MENU% The country and language can affect the behavior of library functions -->
<h2 class="chapter">7 Locales and Internationalization</h2>

<p>Different countries and cultures have varying conventions for how to
communicate.  These conventions range from very simple ones, such as the
format for representing dates and times, to very complex ones, such as
the language spoken.

   <p><a name="index-internationalization-687"></a><a name="index-locales-688"></a><dfn>Internationalization</dfn> of software means programming it to be able
to adapt to the user's favorite conventions.  In ISO&nbsp;C<!-- /@w -->,
internationalization works by means of <dfn>locales</dfn>.  Each locale
specifies a collection of conventions, one convention for each purpose. 
The user chooses a set of conventions by specifying a locale (via
environment variables).

   <p>All programs inherit the chosen locale as part of their environment. 
Provided the programs are written to obey the choice of locale, they
will follow the conventions preferred by the user.

<ul class="menu">
<li><a accesskey="1" href="Effects-of-Locale.html#Effects-of-Locale">Effects of Locale</a>:            Actions affected by the choice of
                                 locale. 
<li><a accesskey="2" href="Choosing-Locale.html#Choosing-Locale">Choosing Locale</a>:              How the user specifies a locale. 
<li><a accesskey="3" href="Locale-Categories.html#Locale-Categories">Locale Categories</a>:            Different purposes for which you can
                                 select a locale. 
<li><a accesskey="4" href="Setting-the-Locale.html#Setting-the-Locale">Setting the Locale</a>:           How a program specifies the locale
                                 with library functions. 
<li><a accesskey="5" href="Standard-Locales.html#Standard-Locales">Standard Locales</a>:             Locale names available on all systems. 
<li><a accesskey="6" href="Locale-Information.html#Locale-Information">Locale Information</a>:           How to access the information for the locale. 
<li><a accesskey="7" href="Formatting-Numbers.html#Formatting-Numbers">Formatting Numbers</a>:           A dedicated function to format numbers. 
<li><a accesskey="8" href="Yes_002dor_002dNo-Questions.html#Yes_002dor_002dNo-Questions">Yes-or-No Questions</a>:          Check a Response against the locale. 
</ul>

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