|
HTML rendering created 2025-09-06 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
|
|
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | EXIT STATUS | ENVIRONMENT | FILES | STANDARDS | EXAMPLES | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON |
|
|
|
localedef(1) General Commands Manual localedef(1)
localedef - compile locale definition files
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
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 directory 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.
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 directory 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.
--force
-c Write the output files even if warnings were generated
about the input file.
--verbose
-v 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 overwriting 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 effect. 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.
--version
-V Print the version number, license, and disclaimer of
warranty for localedef.
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.
POSIXLY_CORRECT
The --posix flag is assumed if this environment variable is
set.
I18NPATH
A colon-separated list of search directories for 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 values.
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 services.
outputpath/LC_TIME
An output file that contains information about formatting
of data and time values.
POSIX.1-2008.
Compile the locale files for Finnish in the UTF-8 character set
and add it to the default locale 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 current directory (note
that the last argument must contain a slash):
localedef -f UTF-8 -i fi_FI ./fi_FI.UTF-8
locale(1), charmap(5), locale(5), repertoiremap(5), locale(7)
This page is part of the man-pages (Linux kernel and C library
user-space interface documentation) project. Information about
the project can be found at
⟨https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/⟩. If you have a bug report
for this manual page, see
⟨https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/docs/man-pages/man-pages.git/tree/CONTRIBUTING⟩.
This page was obtained from the tarball man-pages-6.15.tar.gz
fetched from
⟨https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/pub/linux/docs/man-pages/⟩ on
2025-08-11. If you discover any rendering problems in this HTML
version of the page, or you believe there is a better or more up-
to-date source for the page, or you have corrections or
improvements to the information in this COLOPHON (which is not
part of the original manual page), send a mail to
man-pages@man7.org
Linux man-pages 6.15 2025-05-17 localedef(1)
Pages that refer to this page: locale(1), localeconv(3), setlocale(3), sysconf(3), charmap(5), locale(5), repertoiremap(5), locale(7)
|
HTML rendering created 2025-09-06 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
|