NAME

nl_langinfo, nl_langinfo_l — language information

SYNOPSIS

#include <langinfo.h>

char *nl_langinfo(nl_item item);
char *nl_langinfo_l(nl_item item, locale_t locale);


DESCRIPTION

The nl_langinfo() and nl_langinfo_l() functions shall return a pointer to a string containing information relevant to the particular language or cultural area defined in the current locale, or in the locale represented by locale, respectively (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.

nl_langinfo_l(ABDAY_1, loc)

would return a pointer to the string "Dom" if the identified language of the locale represented by loc was Portuguese, and "Sun" if the identified language of the locale represented by loc was English.

The nl_langinfo() function need not be thread-safe.

The behavior is undefined if the locale argument to nl_langinfo_l() is the special locale object LC_GLOBAL_LOCALE or is not a valid locale object handle.

RETURN VALUE

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

The application shall not modify the string returned. The pointer returned by nl_langinfo() might be invalidated or the string content might be overwritten by a subsequent call to nl_langinfo() in any thread or to nl_langinfo_l() in the same thread or the initial thread, by subsequent calls to setlocale() with a category corresponding to the category of item (see <langinfo.h>) or the category LC_ALL, or by subsequent calls to uselocale() which change the category corresponding to the category of item. The pointer returned by nl_langinfo_l() might be invalidated or the string content might be overwritten by a subsequent call to nl_langinfo_l() in the same thread or to nl_langinfo() in any thread, or by subsequent calls to freelocale() or newlocale() which free or modify the locale object that was passed to nl_langinfo_l(). The returned pointer and the string content might also be invalidated if the calling thread is terminated.

ERRORS

No errors are defined.

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 these functions.

RATIONALE

The possible interactions between internal data used by nl_langinfo() and nl_langinfo_l() are complicated by the fact that nl_langinfo_l() must be thread-safe but nl_langinfo() need not be. The various implementation choices are:

1. nl_langinfo_l() and nl_langinfo() use separate buffers, or at least one of them does not use an internal string buffer. In this case there are no interactions.

2. nl_langinfo_l() and nl_langinfo() share an internal per-thread buffer. There can be interactions, but only in the same thread.

3. nl_langinfo_l() uses an internal per-thread buffer, and nl_langinfo() uses (in all threads) the same buffer that nl_langinfo_l() uses in the initial thread. There can be interactions, but only when nl_langinfo_l() is called in the initial thread.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

None.

SEE ALSO

setlocale, uselocale

XBD 7. Locale, <langinfo.h>, <locale.h>, <nl_types.h>

CHANGE HISTORY

First released in Issue 2.

Issue 5

The last paragraph of the DESCRIPTION is moved from the APPLICATION USAGE section.

A note indicating that this function need not be reentrant is added to the DESCRIPTION.

Issue 7

Austin Group Interpretation 1003.1-2001 #156 is applied.

The nl_langinfo() function is moved from the XSI option to the Base.

The nl_langinfo_l() function is added from The Open Group Technical Standard, 2006, Extended API Set Part 4.

POSIX.1-2008, Technical Corrigendum 1, XSH/TC1-2008/0412 [302], XSH/TC1-2008/0413 [75], XSH/TC1-2008/0414 [283], XSH/TC1-2008/0415 [75,402], XSH/TC1-2008/0416 [283], and XSH/TC1-2008/0417 [402] are applied.

POSIX.1-2008, Technical Corrigendum 2, XSH/TC2-2008/0234 [656] is applied.