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| <h3 class="section">7.2 Choosing a Locale</h3> |
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| <p>The simplest way for the user to choose a locale is to set the |
| environment variable <code>LANG</code>. This specifies a single locale to use |
| for all purposes. For example, a user could specify a hypothetical |
| locale named ‘<samp><span class="samp">espana-castellano</span></samp>’ to use the standard conventions of |
| most of Spain. |
| |
| <p>The set of locales supported depends on the operating system you are |
| using, and so do their names. We can't make any promises about what |
| locales will exist, except for one standard locale called ‘<samp><span class="samp">C</span></samp>’ or |
| ‘<samp><span class="samp">POSIX</span></samp>’. Later we will describe how to construct locales. |
| <!-- (@pxref{Building Locale Files}). --> |
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| <p><a name="index-combining-locales-689"></a>A user also has the option of specifying different locales for different |
| purposes—in effect, choosing a mixture of multiple locales. |
| |
| <p>For example, the user might specify the locale ‘<samp><span class="samp">espana-castellano</span></samp>’ |
| for most purposes, but specify the locale ‘<samp><span class="samp">usa-english</span></samp>’ for |
| currency formatting. This might make sense if the user is a |
| Spanish-speaking American, working in Spanish, but representing monetary |
| amounts in US dollars. |
| |
| <p>Note that both locales ‘<samp><span class="samp">espana-castellano</span></samp>’ and ‘<samp><span class="samp">usa-english</span></samp>’, |
| like all locales, would include conventions for all of the purposes to |
| which locales apply. However, the user can choose to use each locale |
| for a particular subset of those purposes. |
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