`localeconv`

Article
12/02/2022

Gets detailed information on locale settings.

Syntax

struct lconv *localeconv( void );

Return value

localeconv returns a pointer to a filled-in object of type struct lconv. The values contained in the object are copied from the locale settings in thread-local storage, and can be overwritten by subsequent calls to localeconv. Changes made to the values in this object don't modify the locale settings. Calls to setlocale with category values of LC_ALL, LC_MONETARY, or LC_NUMERIC overwrite the contents of the structure.

Remarks

The localeconv function gets detailed information about numeric formatting for the current locale. This information is stored in a structure of type lconv. The lconv structure, defined in LOCALE.H, contains the following members:

Field	Meaning
`decimal_point`, `_W_decimal_point`	Pointer to decimal-point character for nonmonetary quantities.
`thousands_sep`, `_W_thousands_sep`	Pointer to character that separates groups of digits to left of decimal point for nonmonetary quantities.
`grouping`	Pointer to a `char`-sized integer that contains the size of each group of digits in nonmonetary quantities.
`int_curr_symbol`, `_W_int_curr_symbol`	Pointer to international currency symbol for current locale. First three characters specify alphabetic international currency symbol as defined in the ISO 4217 Codes for the Representation of Currency and Funds standard. Fourth character (immediately preceding null character) separates international currency symbol from monetary quantity.
`currency_symbol`, `_W_currency_symbol`	Pointer to local currency symbol for current locale.
`mon_decimal_point`, `_W_mon_decimal_point`	Pointer to decimal-point character for monetary quantities.
`mon_thousands_sep`, `_W_mon_thousands_sep`	Pointer to separator for groups of digits to left of decimal place in monetary quantities.
`mon_grouping`	Pointer to a `char`-sized integer that contains the size of each group of digits in monetary quantities.
`positive_sign`, `_W_positive_sign`	String denoting sign for nonnegative monetary quantities.
`negative_sign`, `_W_negative_sign`	String denoting sign for negative monetary quantities.
`int_frac_digits`	Number of digits to right of decimal point in internationally formatted monetary quantities.
`frac_digits`	Number of digits to right of decimal point in formatted monetary quantities.
`p_cs_precedes`	Set to 1 if currency symbol precedes value for nonnegative formatted monetary quantity. Set to 0 if symbol follows value.
`p_sep_by_space`	Set to 1 if currency symbol is separated by space from value for nonnegative formatted monetary quantity. Set to 0 if there's no space separation.
`n_cs_precedes`	Set to 1 if currency symbol precedes value for negative formatted monetary quantity. Set to 0 if symbol succeeds value.
`n_sep_by_space`	Set to 1 if currency symbol is separated by space from value for negative formatted monetary quantity. Set to 0 if there's no space separation.
`p_sign_posn`	In nonnegative formatted monetary quantities, position of the positive sign.
`n_sign_posn`	In negative formatted monetary quantities, position of the positive sign.

Except as specified, members of the lconv structure that have char * and wchar_t * versions are pointers to strings. Any member that equals "" (or L"" for wchar_t *) is either of zero length, or not supported in the current locale. Both decimal_point and _W_decimal_point are always supported and have a nonzero length.

The char members of the structure are small non-negative numbers, not characters. Any member that equals CHAR_MAX isn't supported in the current locale.

The values of grouping and mon_grouping are interpreted according to the following rules:

CHAR_MAX - Don't perform any further grouping.
0 - Use previous element for each of remaining digits.
n - Number of digits that make up current group. Next element is examined to determine size of next group of digits before current group.

The values for int_curr_symbol are interpreted according to the following rules:

The first three characters specify the alphabetic international currency symbol as defined in the ISO 4217 Codes for the Representation of Currency and Funds standard.
The fourth character (immediately preceding the null character) separates the international currency symbol from the monetary quantity.

The values for p_cs_precedes and n_cs_precedes are interpreted according to the following rules (the n_cs_precedes rule is in parentheses):

0 - Currency symbol follows value for nonnegative (negative) formatted monetary value.
1 - Currency symbol precedes value for nonnegative (negative) formatted monetary value.

The values for p_sep_by_space and n_sep_by_space are interpreted according to the following rules (the n_sep_by_space rule is in parentheses):

0 - Currency symbol is separated from value by space for nonnegative (negative) formatted monetary value.
1 - There's no space separation between currency symbol and value for nonnegative (negative) formatted monetary value.

The values for p_sign_posn and n_sign_posn are interpreted according to the following rules:

0 - Parentheses surround quantity and currency symbol.
1 - Sign string precedes quantity and currency symbol.
2 - Sign string follows quantity and currency symbol.
3 - Sign string immediately precedes currency symbol.
4 - Sign string immediately follows currency symbol.

By default, this function's global state is scoped to the application. To change this behavior, see Global state in the CRT.

Requirements

Routine	Required header
`localeconv`	<locale.h>

For more compatibility information, see Compatibility.

Libraries

All versions of the C run-time libraries.