locale ‑ Get locale‑specific information.

These variables are used by some utilites to provide different date formats, paper sizes, sort order.
An example is the use by tr (translate) utility which will fail if particular characters are in the input stream and LC_ALL=POSIX By specifing export LC_ALL=C tr will treat these characters as the C langiuage does.

locale [ ‑a | ‑m=]
locale [ ‑ck =] name...

Display information about the current locale environment, or all locales, to standard output.

When invoked without arguments, locale summarizes the current locale environment for each locale category defined by the LC_* environment variables.
‑a, ‑‑all‑locales Write names of available locales.
‑m, ‑‑charmaps Write names of available charmaps.
Output Format:
‑c, ‑‑category‑name Write names of selected categories.
‑k, ‑‑keyword‑name Write names and values of selected keywords.
‑v, ‑‑verbose
‑V, ‑‑version
‑?, ‑‑help
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
LC_CTYPE Character classification and case conversion.
LC_COLLATE Collation order.
LC_TIME Date and time formats.
LC_NUMERIC Non‑monetary numeric formats.
LC_MONETARY Monetary formats.
LC_MESSAGES Formats of informative and diagnostic messages and interactive responses.
Partial sample output from ‑v‑a

archive: /usr/lib/locale/locale-archive 

Locale              Title 
an_ES.iso885915 Aragonese for Spain
danish          Danish for Denmark      
en_US           English for the USA      
en_US.iso88591  English for the USA      
en_US.utf8      English for the USA

contents of /usr/lib/locale/en_US.utf8 

LC_ADDRESS 
LC_COLLATE 
LC_CTYPE    "POSIX"   
LC_IDENTIFICATION 
LC_MEASUREMENT
LC_MESSAGES/ 
LC_MONETARY 
LC_NAME 
LC_NUMERIC 
LC_PAPER 
LC_TELEPHONE 
LC_TIME

hexdump -C LC_ADDRESS

00 21 08 00 20 0d 00 00 00 3c 00 00 00 66 00 00 00 |!.. ....<...f...|
10 6a 00 00 00 6e 00 00 00 71 00 00 00 75 00 00 00 |j...n...q...u...|
20 7c 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 82 00 00 00 8a 00 00 00 ||...............|
30 8d 00 00 00 91 00 00 00 95 00 00 00 25 61 25 4e |............%a%N|
40 25 66 25 4e 25 64 25 4e 25 62 25 4e 25 68 20 25 |%f%N%d%N%b%N%h %|
50 73 20 25 65 20 25 72 25 4e 25 25 54 20 25 7a 25 |s %e %r%N%%T %z%|
60 4e 25 63 25 4e 00 55 53 41 00 55 53 41 00 55 53 |N%c%N.USA.USA.US|
70 00 55 53 41 00 55 53 41 00 00 00 00 48 03 00 00 |.USA.USA....H...|
80 30 00 45 6e 67 6c 69 73 68 00 65 6e 00 65 6e 67 |0.English.en.eng|
90 00 65 6e 67 00 55 54 46 2d 38 00 |.eng.UTF-8.|

hexdump -C LC_MEASUREMENT


00 23 08 00 20 02 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 11 00 00 00 |#.. ............|
10 02 55 54 46 2d 38 00 |.UTF-8.|

hexdump -d


00 02083 08192 00002 00000 00016 00000 00017 00000
10 21762 18004 14381 00000

hexdump -C LC_PAPER


00 2f 08 00 20 03 00 00 00 14 00 00 00 18 00 00 00 |/.. ............|
10 1c 00 00 00 17 01 00 00 d8 00 00 00 55 54 46 2d |............UTF-|
20 38 00 |8.|

hexdump -d


00 02095 08192 00003 00000 00020 00000 00024 00000
10 00028 00000 00279 00000 00216 00000 21589 11590
20 00056

hexdump -C LC_NUMERIC


00 29 08 00 20 06 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 22 00 00 00 |).. .... ..."...|
10 24 00 00 00 28 00 00 00 2c 00 00 00 30 00 00 00 |$...(...,...0...|
20 2e 00 2c 00 03 03 00 00 2e 00 00 00 2c 00 00 00 |..,.........,...|
30 55 54 46 2d 38 00                               |UTF-8.|

hexdump -C LC_NAME

20 08 00 20 07 00 00 00 24 00 00 00 33 00 00 00 | .. ....$...3...|
34 00 00 00 38 00 00 00 3d 00 00 00 43 00 00 00 |4...8...=...C...|
47 00 00 00 25 64 25 74 25 67 25 74 25 6d 25 74 |G...%d%t%g%t%m%t|
25 66 00 00 4d 72 2e 00 4d 72 73 2e 00 4d 69 73 |%f..Mr..Mrs..Mis|
73 2e 00 4d 73 2e 00 55 54 46 2d 38 00          |s..Ms..UTF-8.|

hexdump -C LC_TELEPHONE


00 22 08 00 20 05 00 00 00 1c 00 00 00 28 00 00 00 |".. ........(...|
10 30 00 00 00 33 00 00 00 35 00 00 00 2b 25 63 20 |0...3...5...+%c |
20 28 25 61 29 20 25 6c 00 28 25 61 29 20 25 6c 00 |(%a) %l.(%a) %l.|
30 31 31 00 31 00 55 54 46 2d 38 00                |11.1.UTF-8.|

hexdump -C LC_MONETARY


00 01 02 03 08 09 0a 0b
04 05 06 07 0c 0d 0e 0f
000 2c 08 00 20 2e c0 c5
010 c7 c9 cb ce
020 cf d1 d2 d3
030 d4 d5 d6 d7
040 d8 d9 dc dd
050 de df e0 e1
060 e2 e7 e9 ea
070 eb ec ed ee
080 ef f0 f1 f2
090 f3 f4 f5 f6
0a0 f8 fc 00 01 04 01
0b0 08 01 10 01 14 01 18 01
0c0 55 53 44 20 00 24 00 2e 00 2c 00 03 03 00 00 2d |USD $ , -|
0d0 00 02 02 01 00 01 00 01 01 2d 24 00 01 00 01 00 | -$ |
0e0 01 01 55 53 44 20 00 24 00 02 02 01 00 01 00 01 | .USD $ |
0f0 00 01 00 01 01 01 01 00 75 27 00 00 bf be f5 05 | u |
100 75 27 00 00 bf be f5 05 01 01 |u |
110 2e 2c 55 54 46 2d 38 00 | , UTF-8 |

hexdump -d 

00    2092   08192     046             192             197           
10     199             201             203             206          
20     207             209   -

40                     217             220 -

60     226             231             233 -           246

a0     248             252             256             260        
b0     264             272             276             280         
c0                  03 03          
d0     00 02 02 01 00 01 00 01 01 -$ 00 01 00 01 00
e0     01 01                     512     258     256     256    

f0     00 01 00 01 01 01 01 00  10101 00 00 BFBE   F505    

00  10101       0   48831    1525       1               1            

10      46              44          

hexdump -C LC_TIME


000  2a 08 00 20 6f       00  c4 01       c8 01        
010  cc 01       d0 01        d4 01       d8 01        
020  dc 01       e0 01        e7 01       ee 01        
030  f6 01       00 02        09 02       10 02        
040  19 02       1d 02        21 02       25 02        
050  29 02       2d 02        31 02       35 02        
060  39 02       3d 02        41 02       45 02        
070  49 02       51 02        5a 02       60 02        
080  66 02       6a 02        6f 02       74 02        
090  7b 02       85 02        8d 02       96 02        
0a0  9f 02       a2 02        a5 02       b7 02        
0b0  c0 02       c3 02        cf 02       cf 02        
0c0  d0 02       d1 02        35 03       36 03        
0d0  38 03       3c 03        3c 03       4c 03        
0e0  5c 03       6c 03        7c 03       8c 03        
0f0  9c 03       ac 03        c8 03       e4 03        
100  04 04       2c 04        50 04       6c 04        
110  90 04       a0 04        b0 04       c0 04        
120  d0 04       e0 04        f0 04       00 05        
130  10 05       20 05        30 05       40 05        
140  50 05       70 05        94 05       ac 05        
150  c4 05       d4 05        e8 05       fc 05        
160  18 06       40 06        60 06       84 06        
170  a8 06       b4 06        c0 06       08 07        
180  2c 07       38 07        68 07       6c 07        
190  70 07       00 09        04 09       08 09        
1a0  0c 09       10 09        11 09       12 09        
1b0  13 09       14 09        15 09       2d 09        

1c0  8d 09 00 00 ....Sun.Mon.Tue.Wed.Thu.Fri.Sat.  
1e0    Sunday.Monday.Tuesday.Wednesday.Thursday.Friday.Saturday.
219    Jan.Feb.Mar.Apr.May.Jun.Jul.Aug.Sep.Oct.Nov.Dec.
249    January.February.March.April.May.June.July.August.September.October.November.December.
29F    AM.PM.%a %d %b %Y %r %Z.%m/%d/%Y.
2c     %r.%I:%M:%S %p..

*
330             S   
340 u   n      .M   
350 o   n      .T   u   e      .W   
370 e   d      .T   h   u      .F   
390 r   i      .S   a   t      .S   
3b0 u   n   d   a   y  .M   o   n   d   a   y   .T   u   e   s   d   a   y   
400 .W   e   d   n   e   s   d   a   y     .T   h   u   r   s   d   a   y      .
450 F   r   i   d   a   y      .S   a   t   u   r   d   a   y      .
490 J   a   n      .  4a0 F   e   b      .  4b0 M   a   r      .  4c0 A   p   r      .
4d0 M   a   y      .  4e0 J   u   n      .  4f0 J   u   l      .  500 A   u   g      .
510 S   e   p      .  520 O   c   t      .  530 N   o   v      .  540 D   e   c      .
550 J   a   n   u   a   r   y      .
570 F   e   b   r   u   a   r   y   
590    .M   a   r   c   h      .A   p   r   i   l   
5c0    .M   a   y   
5d0    .J   u   n   e      .J   u   l   y      .A   u   g   u   s   
610 t      .S   e   p   t   e   m   b   e   r      .
640 O   c   t   o   b   e   r      .
660 N   o   v   e   m   b   e   r   
680    .D   e   c   e   m   b   e   
6a0 r      .A   M   
6b0    .P   M      .

6c0 %a%d%b%Y%r%Z.%m/%d/%Y.%r.%I:%M:%S%p|
*
900  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  07 00 00 00 81 bc 30 01  |..............0.|
910  04 01 01 01 00                                    |.....%a %b %e %H|
920                                                    |:%M:%S %Z %Y.%..|
930  00 61 00 00 00 20 00 00  00 25 00 00 00 62 00 00  |.a... ...%...b..|
940  00 20 00 00 00 25 00 00  00 65 00 00 00 20 00 00  |. ...%...e... ..|
950  00 25 00 00 00 48 00 00  00 3a 00 00 00 25 00 00  |.%...H...:...%..|
960  00 4d 00 00 00 3a 00 00  00 25 00 00 00 53 00 00  |.M...:...%...S..|
970  00 20 00 00 00 25 00 00  00 5a 00 00 00 20 00 00  |. ...%...Z... ..|
980  00 25 00 00 00 59 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 55 54 46  |.%...Y.......UTF|
990  2d 38 00                                          |-8.|
993
… Sample output from ‑m

ANSI_X3.110‑1983 ANSI_X3.4‑1968 ARMSCII‑8 ASMO_449 
BIG5 BIG5‑HKSCS BS_4730 BS_VIEWDATA
CP10007 CP1125 CP1250 CP1251 CP1252 CP1253 CP1254 CP1255
CP1256 CP1257 CP1258 CP737 CP775 CP949 CSA_Z243.4‑1985‑1 CSA_Z243.4‑1985‑2
CSA_Z243.4‑1985‑GR CSN_369103 CWI 
DEC‑MCS DIN_66003 DS_2089 
EBCDIC‑AT‑DE EBCDIC‑AT‑DE‑A
EBCDIC‑CA‑FR EBCDIC‑DK‑NO EBCDIC‑DK‑NO‑A 
EBCDIC‑ES EBCDIC‑ES‑A EBCDIC‑ES‑S EBCDIC‑FI‑SE 
EBCDIC‑FI‑SE‑A EBCDIC‑FR EBCDIC‑IS‑FRISS EBCDIC‑IT 
EBCDIC‑PT EBCDIC‑UK EBCDIC‑US 
ECMA‑CYRILLIC ES
ES2 EUC‑JISX0213 EUC‑JP EUC‑JP‑MS EUC‑KR EUC‑TW 
GB18030 GB2312
GBK GB_1988‑80 GEORGIAN‑ACADEMY GEORGIAN‑PS GOST_19768‑74 
GREEK‑CCITT GREEK7 GREEK7‑OLD
HP‑ROMAN8 
IBM037 IBM038 IBM1004 IBM1026 IBM1047 IBM1124 IBM1129
IBM1132 IBM1133 IBM1160 IBM1161 IBM1162 IBM1163 IBM1164 IBM256
IBM273 IBM274 IBM275 IBM277 IBM278 IBM280 IBM281 IBM284
IBM285 IBM290 IBM297 IBM420 IBM423 IBM424 IBM437 IBM500
IBM850 IBM851 IBM852 IBM855 IBM856 IBM857 IBM860 IBM861
IBM862 IBM863 IBM864 IBM865 IBM866 IBM866NAV IBM868 IBM869
IBM870 IBM871 IBM874 IBM875 IBM880 IBM891 IBM903 IBM904
IBM905 IBM918 IBM922 IEC_P27‑1 INIS INIS‑8 INIS‑CYRILLIC INVARIANT
ISIRI‑3342 
ISO‑8859‑1 ISO‑8859‑10 ISO‑8859‑11 ISO‑8859‑13 ISO‑8859‑14 ISO‑8859‑15 ISO‑8859‑16
ISO‑8859‑2 ISO‑8859‑3 ISO‑8859‑4 ISO‑8859‑5 ISO‑8859‑6 ISO‑8859‑7 ISO‑8859‑8 ISO‑8859‑9
ISO‑IR‑197 ISO‑IR‑209 ISO‑IR‑90 ISO_10367‑BOX ISO_10646 ISO_2033‑1983 
ISO_5427 ISO_5427‑EXT
ISO_5428 ISO_646.BASIC ISO_646.IRV 
ISO_6937 ISO_6937‑2‑25 ISO_6937‑2‑ADD 
ISO_8859‑1,GL ISO_8859‑SUPP IT i
JIS_C6220‑1969‑JP JIS_C6220‑1969‑RO 
JIS_C6229‑1984‑A JIS_C6229‑1984‑B JIS_C6229‑1984‑B‑ADD
JIS_C6229‑1984‑HAND JIS_C6229‑1984‑HAND‑ADD
JIS_C6229‑1984‑KANA JIS_X0201 
JOHAB JUS_I.B1.002 JUS_I.B1.003‑MAC JUS_I.B1.003‑SERB 
KOI‑8 KOI8‑R
KOI8‑T KOI8‑U KSC5636 
LATIN‑GREEK LATIN‑GREEK‑1 
MAC‑CYRILLIC MAC‑IS MAC‑SAMI MAC‑UK MACINTOSH 
MSZ_7795.3 
NATS‑DANO NATS‑DANO‑ADD
NATS‑SEFI NATS‑SEFI‑ADD
NC_NC00‑10
NEXTSTEP 
NF_Z_62‑010 NF_Z_62‑010_(1973) NF_Z_62‑010_1973 NS_4551‑1 NS_4551‑2 
PT PT2
SAMI SAMI‑WS2 SEN_850200_B SEN_850200_C 
SHIFT_JIS SHIFT_JISX0213 
T.101‑G2 T.61‑7BIT T.61‑8BIT TCVN5712‑1 TIS‑620 TSCII 
UTF‑8 
VIDEOTEX‑SUPPL VISCII 
WIN‑SAMI‑2 WINDOWS‑31J






3rd Berkeley Distribution         March 2001