std::setlocale

The setlocale function installs the specified system locale or its portion as the new C locale. The modifications remain in effect and influences the execution of all locale-sensitive C library functions until the next call to setlocale. If locale is a null pointer, setlocale

Parameters

Return value

Pointer to a narrow null-terminated string identifying the C locale after applying the changes, if any, or null pointer on failure.

A copy of the returned string along with the category used in this call to std::setlocale may be used later in the program to restore the locale back to the state at the end of this call.

Notes

During program startup, the equivalent of std:: setlocale ( LC_ALL, "C" ) ;

Although the return type is char*, modifying the pointed-to characters is undefined behavior.

Because setlocale modifies global state which affects execution of locale-dependent functions, it is undefined behavior to call it from one thread, while another thread is executing any of the following functions: std::fprintf, std::isprint, std::iswdigit, std::localeconv, std::tolower, std::fscanf, std::ispunct, std::iswgraph, std::mblen, std::toupper, std::isalnum, std::isspace, std::iswlower, std::mbstowcs, std::towlower, std::isalpha, std::isupper, std::iswprint, std::mbtowc, std::towupper, std::isblank, std::iswalnum, std::iswpunct, std::setlocale, std::wcscoll, std::iscntrl, std::iswalpha, std::iswspace, std::strcoll, std::wcstod, std::isdigit, std::iswblank, std::iswupper, std::strerror, std::wcstombs, std::isgraph, std::iswcntrl, std::iswxdigit, std::strtod, std::wcsxfrm, std::islower, std::iswctype, std::isxdigit

POSIX also defines a locale named "POSIX", which is always accessible and is exactly equivalent to the default minimal "C"

POSIX also specifies that the returned pointer, not just the contents of the pointed-to string, may be invalidated by subsequent calls to setlocale.

Example

#include <clocale>
#include <cstdio>
#include <ctime>
#include <cwchar>
#include <iterator>
#include <string>
 
int main()
{
    // Make a "deep copy" of current locale name.
    std::string prev_loc = std::setlocale(LC_ALL, nullptr);
 
    // The C locale will be UTF-8 enabled English,
    // decimal dot will be German,
    // date and time formatting will be Japanese.
    if (const char* loc = std::setlocale(LC_ALL, "en_US.UTF-8"))
        std::wprintf(L"New LC_ALL locale: %s\n", loc);
    if (const char* loc = std::setlocale(LC_NUMERIC, "de_DE.UTF-8"))
        std::wprintf(L"New LC_NUMERIC locale: %s\n", loc);
    if (const char* loc = std::setlocale(LC_TIME, "ja_JP.UTF-8"))
        std::wprintf(L"New LC_TIME locale: %s\n", loc);
 
    wchar_t buf[100];
    std::time_t t = std::time(nullptr);
    std::wcsftime(buf, std::size(buf), L"%A %c", std::localtime(&t));
    std::wprintf(L"Number: %.2f\nDate: %Ls\n", 3.14, buf);
 
    // Restore the previous locale.
    if (const char* loc = std::setlocale(LC_ALL, prev_loc.c_str()))
        std::wprintf(L"Restorred LC_ALL locale: %s\n", loc);
}

New LC_ALL locale: en_US.UTF-8
New LC_NUMERIC locale: de_DE.UTF-8
New LC_TIME locale: ja_JP.UTF-8
Number: 3,14
Date: 日曜日 2022年11月06日 20時40分59秒
Restorred LC_ALL locale: C

See also

External links