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