=head1 NAME
-perllocale - Perl locale handling (internationlization and localization)
+perllocale - Perl locale handling (internationalization and localization)
=head1 DESCRIPTION
Perl can understand language-specific data via the standardized (ISO C,
XPG4, POSIX 1.c) method called "the locale system". The locale system is
-controlled per application using a pragma, one function call, and
+controlled per application using one pragma, one function call, and
several environment variables.
B<NOTE>: This feature is new in Perl 5.004, and does not apply unless an
C<LC_COLLATE>, C<LC_CTYPE>, and so on, are discussed further in L<LOCALE
CATEGORIES>.
-The default behaviour returns with S<C<no locale>> or on reaching the
+The default behavior returns with S<C<no locale>> or on reaching the
end of the enclosing block.
Note that the string result of any operation that uses locale
This machine-native collation (which is what you get unless S<C<use
locale>> has appeared earlier in the same block) must be used for
sorting raw binary data, whereas the locale-dependent collation of the
-first example is useful for written text.
+first example is useful for natural text.
As noted in L<USING LOCALES>, C<cmp> compares according to the current
collation locale when C<use locale> is in effect, but falls back to a
The C standard defines the C<LC_MONETARY> category, but no function that
is affected by its contents. (Those with experience of standards
-committees will recognise that the working group decided to punt on the
+committees will recognize that the working group decided to punt on the
issue.) Consequently, Perl takes no notice of it. If you really want
to use C<LC_MONETARY>, you can query its contents - see L<The localeconv
function> - and use the information that it returns in your
-application's own formating of currency amounts. However, you may well
+application's own formatting of currency amounts. However, you may well
find that the information, though voluminous and complex, does not quite
meet your requirements: currency formatting is a hard nut to crack.
The remaining locale category, C<LC_MESSAGES> (possibly supplemented by
others in particular implementations) is not currently used by Perl -
-except possibly to affect the behaviour of library functions called by
+except possibly to affect the behavior of library functions called by
extensions which are not part of the standard Perl distribution.
=head1 SECURITY
C<use locale> is in effect, Perl uses the tainting mechanism (see
L<perlsec>) to mark string results which become locale-dependent, and
which may be untrustworthy in consequence. Here is a summary of the
-tainting behaviour of operators and functions which may be affected by
+tainting behavior of operators and functions which may be affected by
the locale:
=over 4
=item B<Substitution operator> (C<s///>):
-Has the same behaviour as the match operator. When C<use locale> is
+Has the same behavior as the match operator. When C<use locale> is
in effect, he left operand of C<=~> will become tainted if it is
modified as a result of a substitution based on a regular expression
match involving C<\w>.
=head2 Backward compatibility
-Versions of Perl prior to 5.004 ignored locale information, generally
-behaving as if something similar to the C<"C"> locale (see L<The
-setlocale function>) was always in force, even if the program
+Versions of Perl prior to 5.004 B<mostly> ignored locale information,
+generally behaving as if something similar to the C<"C"> locale (see
+L<The setlocale function>) was always in force, even if the program
environment suggested otherwise. By default, Perl still behaves this
way so as to maintain backward compatibility. If you want a Perl
-application to pay attention to locale information, you B<must> use the
-S<C<use locale>> pragma (see L<The S<C<use locale>> Pragma>) to instruct
-it to do so.
+application to pay attention to locale information, you B<must> use
+the S<C<use locale>> pragma (see L<The S<C<use locale>> Pragma>) to
+instruct it to do so.
+
+Versions of Perl from 5.002 to 5.003 did use the C<LC_CTYPE>
+information if that was available, that is, C<\w> did understand what
+are the letters according to the locale environment variables.
+The problem was that the user had no control over the feature:
+if the C library supported locales, Perl used them.
+
+=head2 I18N:Collate obsolete
+
+In versions of Perl prior to 5.004 per-locale collation was possible
+using the C<I18N::Collate> library module. This module is now mildly
+obsolete and should be avoided in new applications. The C<LC_COLLATE>
+functionality is now integrated into the Perl core language: One can
+use locale-specific scalar data completely normally with C<use locale>,
+so there is no longer any need to juggle with the scalar references of
+C<I18N::Collate>.
=head2 Sort speed and memory use impacts
and the locale.) These downsides are dictated more by the operating
system's implementation of the locale system than by Perl.
-=head2 I18N:Collate
-
-In Perl 5.003 (and later development releases prior to 5.003_06),
-per-locale collation was possible using the C<I18N::Collate> library
-module. This is now mildly obsolete and should be avoided in new
-applications. The C<LC_COLLATE> functionality is now integrated into
-the Perl core language and one can use locale-specific scalar data
-completely normally - there is no need to juggle with the scalar
-references of C<I18N::Collate>.
-
=head2 Freely available locale definitions
There is a large collection of locale definitions at
=head2 I18n and l10n
-Internationalization is often abbreviated as B<i18n> because its first
-and last letters are separated by eighteen others. In the same way, you
-abbreviate localization to B<l10n>.
+"Internationalization" is often abbreviated as B<i18n> because its first
+and last letters are separated by eighteen others. (You may guess why
+the internalin ... internaliti ... i18n tends to get abbreviated.) In
+the same way, "localization" is often abbreviated to B<l10n>.
=head2 An imperfect standard
=head1 HISTORY
-Jarrko Hietaniemi's original F<perli18n.pod> heavily hacked by Dominic
+Jarkko Hietaniemi's original F<perli18n.pod> heavily hacked by Dominic
Dunlop, assisted by the perl5-porters.
-Last update: Mon Dec 23 10:44:08 EST 1996
+Last update: Tue Dec 24 16:43:11 EST 1996
projects / p5sagit/p5-mst-13.2.git / commitdiff