| JavaTM 2 Platform Std. Ed. v1.5.0
java.util
Class Locale
java.lang.Object
 java.util.Locale
- All Implemented Interfaces:
- Serializable, Cloneable
public final class Locale - extends Object
- implements Cloneable, Serializable
A Locale object represents a specific geographical, political,
or cultural region. An operation that requires a Locale to perform
its task is called locale-sensitive and uses the Locale
to tailor information for the user. For example, displaying a number
is a locale-sensitive operation--the number should be formatted
according to the customs/conventions of the user's native country,
region, or culture.
Create a Locale object using the constructors in this class:
Locale(String language)
Locale(String language, String country)
Locale(String language, String country, String variant)
The language argument is a valid ISO Language Code.
These codes are the lower-case, two-letter codes as defined by ISO-639.
You can find a full list of these codes at a number of sites, such as:
http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/englangn.html
The country argument is a valid ISO Country Code. These
codes are the upper-case, two-letter codes as defined by ISO-3166.
You can find a full list of these codes at a number of sites, such as:
http://www.iso.ch/iso/en/prods-services/iso3166ma/02iso-3166-code-lists/list-en1.html
The variant argument is a vendor or browser-specific code.
For example, use WIN for Windows, MAC for Macintosh, and POSIX for POSIX.
Where there are two variants, separate them with an underscore, and
put the most important one first. For example, a Traditional Spanish collation
might construct a locale with parameters for language, country and variant as:
"es", "ES", "Traditional_WIN".
Because a Locale object is just an identifier for a region,
no validity check is performed when you construct a Locale.
If you want to see whether particular resources are available for the
Locale you construct, you must query those resources. For
example, ask the NumberFormat for the locales it supports
using its getAvailableLocales method.
Note: When you ask for a resource for a particular
locale, you get back the best available match, not necessarily
precisely what you asked for. For more information, look at
ResourceBundle.
The Locale class provides a number of convenient constants
that you can use to create Locale objects for commonly used
locales. For example, the following creates a Locale object
for the United States:
Locale.US
Once you've created a Locale you can query it for information about
itself. Use getCountry to get the ISO Country Code and
getLanguage to get the ISO Language Code. You can
use getDisplayCountry to get the
name of the country suitable for displaying to the user. Similarly,
you can use getDisplayLanguage to get the name of
the language suitable for displaying to the user. Interestingly,
the getDisplayXXX methods are themselves locale-sensitive
and have two versions: one that uses the default locale and one
that uses the locale specified as an argument.
The Java 2 platform provides a number of classes that perform locale-sensitive
operations. For example, the NumberFormat class formats
numbers, currency, or percentages in a locale-sensitive manner. Classes
such as NumberFormat have a number of convenience methods
for creating a default object of that type. For example, the
NumberFormat class provides these three convenience methods
for creating a default NumberFormat object:
NumberFormat.getInstance()
NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance()
NumberFormat.getPercentInstance()
These methods have two variants; one with an explicit locale
and one without; the latter using the default locale.
NumberFormat.getInstance(myLocale)
NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance(myLocale)
NumberFormat.getPercentInstance(myLocale)
A Locale is the mechanism for identifying the kind of object
(NumberFormat) that you would like to get. The locale is
just a mechanism for identifying objects,
not a container for the objects themselves.
- Since:
- 1.1
- See Also:
ResourceBundle,
Format,
NumberFormat,
Collator,
Serialized Form
|
Constructor Summary |
Locale(String language)
Construct a locale from a language code. |
Locale(String language,
String country)
Construct a locale from language, country. |
Locale(String language,
String country,
String variant)
Construct a locale from language, country, variant. |
|
Method Summary |
Object |
clone()
Overrides Cloneable |
boolean |
equals(Object obj)
Returns true if this Locale is equal to another object. |
static Locale[] |
getAvailableLocales()
Returns an array of all installed locales. |
String |
getCountry()
Returns the country/region code for this locale, which will
either be the empty string or an uppercase ISO 3166 2-letter code. |
static Locale |
getDefault()
Gets the current value of the default locale for this instance
of the Java Virtual Machine. |
String |
getDisplayCountry()
Returns a name for the locale's country that is appropriate for display to the
user. |
String |
getDisplayCountry(Locale inLocale)
Returns a name for the locale's country that is appropriate for display to the
user. |
String |
getDisplayLanguage()
Returns a name for the locale's language that is appropriate for display to the
user. |
String |
getDisplayLanguage(Locale inLocale)
Returns a name for the locale's language that is appropriate for display to the
user. |
String |
getDisplayName()
Returns a name for the locale that is appropriate for display to the
user. |
String |
getDisplayName(Locale inLocale)
Returns a name for the locale that is appropriate for display to the
user. |
String |
getDisplayVariant()
Returns a name for the locale's variant code that is appropriate for display to the
user. |
String |
getDisplayVariant(Locale inLocale)
Returns a name for the locale's variant code that is appropriate for display to the
user. |
String |
getISO3Country()
Returns a three-letter abbreviation for this locale's country. |
String |
getISO3Language()
Returns a three-letter abbreviation for this locale's language. |
static String[] |
getISOCountries()
Returns a list of all 2-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166. |
static String[] |
getISOLanguages()
Returns a list of all 2-letter language codes defined in ISO 639. |
String |
getLanguage()
Returns the language code for this locale, which will either be the empty string
or a lowercase ISO 639 code. |
String |
getVariant()
Returns the variant code for this locale. |
int |
hashCode()
Override hashCode. |
static void |
setDefault(Locale newLocale)
Sets the default locale for this instance of the Java Virtual Machine. |
String |
toString()
Getter for the programmatic name of the entire locale,
with the language, country and variant separated by underbars. |
ENGLISH
public static final Locale ENGLISH
- Useful constant for language.
FRENCH
public static final Locale FRENCH
- Useful constant for language.
GERMAN
public static final Locale GERMAN
- Useful constant for language.
ITALIAN
public static final Locale ITALIAN
- Useful constant for language.
JAPANESE
public static final Locale JAPANESE
- Useful constant for language.
KOREAN
public static final Locale KOREAN
- Useful constant for language.
CHINESE
public static final Locale CHINESE
- Useful constant for language.
SIMPLIFIED_CHINESE
public static final Locale SIMPLIFIED_CHINESE
- Useful constant for language.
TRADITIONAL_CHINESE
public static final Locale TRADITIONAL_CHINESE
- Useful constant for language.
FRANCE
public static final Locale FRANCE
- Useful constant for country.
GERMANY
public static final Locale GERMANY
- Useful constant for country.
ITALY
public static final Locale ITALY
- Useful constant for country.
JAPAN
public static final Locale JAPAN
- Useful constant for country.
KOREA
public static final Locale KOREA
- Useful constant for country.
CHINA
public static final Locale CHINA
- Useful constant for country.
PRC
public static final Locale PRC
- Useful constant for country.
TAIWAN
public static final Locale TAIWAN
- Useful constant for country.
UK
public static final Locale UK
- Useful constant for country.
US
public static final Locale US
- Useful constant for country.
CANADA
public static final Locale CANADA
- Useful constant for country.
CANADA_FRENCH
public static final Locale CANADA_FRENCH
- Useful constant for country.
Locale
public Locale(String language,
String country,
String variant)
- Construct a locale from language, country, variant.
NOTE: ISO 639 is not a stable standard; some of the language codes it defines
(specifically iw, ji, and in) have changed. This constructor accepts both the
old codes (iw, ji, and in) and the new codes (he, yi, and id), but all other
API on Locale will return only the OLD codes.
- Parameters:
language - lowercase two-letter ISO-639 code.country - uppercase two-letter ISO-3166 code.variant - vendor and browser specific code. See class description.
- Throws:
NullPointerException - thrown if any argument is null.
Locale
public Locale(String language,
String country)
- Construct a locale from language, country.
NOTE: ISO 639 is not a stable standard; some of the language codes it defines
(specifically iw, ji, and in) have changed. This constructor accepts both the
old codes (iw, ji, and in) and the new codes (he, yi, and id), but all other
API on Locale will return only the OLD codes.
- Parameters:
language - lowercase two-letter ISO-639 code.country - uppercase two-letter ISO-3166 code.
- Throws:
NullPointerException - thrown if either argument is null.
Locale
public Locale(String language)
- Construct a locale from a language code.
NOTE: ISO 639 is not a stable standard; some of the language codes it defines
(specifically iw, ji, and in) have changed. This constructor accepts both the
old codes (iw, ji, and in) and the new codes (he, yi, and id), but all other
API on Locale will return only the OLD codes.
- Parameters:
language - lowercase two-letter ISO-639 code.
- Throws:
NullPointerException - thrown if argument is null.- Since:
- 1.4
getDefault
public static Locale getDefault()
- Gets the current value of the default locale for this instance
of the Java Virtual Machine.
The Java Virtual Machine sets the default locale during startup
based on the host environment. It is used by many locale-sensitive
methods if no locale is explicitly specified.
It can be changed using the
setDefault method.
- Returns:
- the default locale for this instance of the Java Virtual Machine
setDefault
public static void setDefault(Locale newLocale)
- Sets the default locale for this instance of the Java Virtual Machine.
This does not affect the host locale.
If there is a security manager, its checkPermission
method is called with a PropertyPermission("user.language", "write")
permission before the default locale is changed.
The Java Virtual Machine sets the default locale during startup
based on the host environment. It is used by many locale-sensitive
methods if no locale is explicitly specified.
Since changing the default locale may affect many different areas
of functionality, this method should only be used if the caller
is prepared to reinitialize locale-sensitive code running
within the same Java Virtual Machine, such as the user interface.
- Parameters:
newLocale - the new default locale
- Throws:
SecurityException - if a security manager exists and its
checkPermission method doesn't allow the operation.
NullPointerException - if newLocale is null- See Also:
SecurityManager.checkPermission(java.security.Permission),
PropertyPermission
getAvailableLocales
public static Locale[] getAvailableLocales()
- Returns an array of all installed locales.
The array returned must contain at least a
Locale
instance equal to Locale.US.
- Returns:
- An array of installed locales.
getISOCountries
public static String[] getISOCountries()
- Returns a list of all 2-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166.
Can be used to create Locales.
getISOLanguages
public static String[] getISOLanguages()
- Returns a list of all 2-letter language codes defined in ISO 639.
Can be used to create Locales.
[NOTE: ISO 639 is not a stable standard-- some languages' codes have changed.
The list this function returns includes both the new and the old codes for the
languages whose codes have changed.]
getLanguage
public String getLanguage()
- Returns the language code for this locale, which will either be the empty string
or a lowercase ISO 639 code.
NOTE: ISO 639 is not a stable standard-- some languages' codes have changed.
Locale's constructor recognizes both the new and the old codes for the languages
whose codes have changed, but this function always returns the old code. If you
want to check for a specific language whose code has changed, don't do
if (locale.getLanguage().equals("he")
...
Instead, do
if (locale.getLanguage().equals(new Locale("he", "", "").getLanguage())
...
- See Also:
getDisplayLanguage()
getCountry
public String getCountry()
- Returns the country/region code for this locale, which will
either be the empty string or an uppercase ISO 3166 2-letter code.
- See Also:
getDisplayCountry()
getVariant
public String getVariant()
- Returns the variant code for this locale.
- See Also:
getDisplayVariant()
toString
public final String toString()
- Getter for the programmatic name of the entire locale,
with the language, country and variant separated by underbars.
Language is always lower case, and country is always upper case.
If the language is missing, the string will begin with an underbar.
If both the language and country fields are missing, this function
will return the empty string, even if the variant field is filled in
(you can't have a locale with just a variant-- the variant must accompany
a valid language or country code).
Examples: "en", "de_DE", "_GB", "en_US_WIN", "de__POSIX", "fr__MAC"
- Overrides:
toString in class Object
- Returns:
- a string representation of the object.
- See Also:
getDisplayName()
getISO3Language
public String getISO3Language()
throws MissingResourceException
- Returns a three-letter abbreviation for this locale's language. If the locale
doesn't specify a language, this will be the empty string. Otherwise, this will
be a lowercase ISO 639-2/T language code.
The ISO 639-2 language codes can be found on-line at
http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/englangn.html
- Throws:
MissingResourceException - Throws MissingResourceException if the
three-letter language abbreviation is not available for this locale.
getISO3Country
public String getISO3Country()
throws MissingResourceException
- Returns a three-letter abbreviation for this locale's country. If the locale
doesn't specify a country, this will be the empty string. Otherwise, this will
be an uppercase ISO 3166 3-letter country code.
The ISO 3166-2 country codes can be found on-line at
http://www.davros.org/misc/iso3166.txt
- Throws:
MissingResourceException - Throws MissingResourceException if the
three-letter country abbreviation is not available for this locale.
getDisplayLanguage
public final String getDisplayLanguage()
- Returns a name for the locale's language that is appropriate for display to the
user.
If possible, the name returned will be localized for the default locale.
For example, if the locale is fr_FR and the default locale
is en_US, getDisplayLanguage() will return "French"; if the locale is en_US and
the default locale is fr_FR, getDisplayLanguage() will return "anglais".
If the name returned cannot be localized for the default locale,
(say, we don't have a Japanese name for Croatian),
this function falls back on the English name, and uses the ISO code as a last-resort
value. If the locale doesn't specify a language, this function returns the empty string.
getDisplayLanguage
public String getDisplayLanguage(Locale inLocale)
- Returns a name for the locale's language that is appropriate for display to the
user.
If possible, the name returned will be localized according to inLocale.
For example, if the locale is fr_FR and inLocale
is en_US, getDisplayLanguage() will return "French"; if the locale is en_US and
inLocale is fr_FR, getDisplayLanguage() will return "anglais".
If the name returned cannot be localized according to inLocale,
(say, we don't have a Japanese name for Croatian),
this function falls back on the default locale, on the English name, and finally
on the ISO code as a last-resort value. If the locale doesn't specify a language,
this function returns the empty string.
getDisplayCountry
public final String getDisplayCountry()
- Returns a name for the locale's country that is appropriate for display to the
user.
If possible, the name returned will be localized for the default locale.
For example, if the locale is fr_FR and the default locale
is en_US, getDisplayCountry() will return "France"; if the locale is en_US and
the default locale is fr_FR, getDisplayLanguage() will return "Etats-Unis".
If the name returned cannot be localized for the default locale,
(say, we don't have a Japanese name for Croatia),
this function falls back on the English name, and uses the ISO code as a last-resort
value. If the locale doesn't specify a country, this function returns the empty string.
getDisplayCountry
public String getDisplayCountry(Locale inLocale)
- Returns a name for the locale's country that is appropriate for display to the
user.
If possible, the name returned will be localized according to inLocale.
For example, if the locale is fr_FR and inLocale
is en_US, getDisplayCountry() will return "France"; if the locale is en_US and
inLocale is fr_FR, getDisplayLanguage() will return "Etats-Unis".
If the name returned cannot be localized according to inLocale.
(say, we don't have a Japanese name for Croatia),
this function falls back on the default locale, on the English name, and finally
on the ISO code as a last-resort value. If the locale doesn't specify a country,
this function returns the empty string.
getDisplayVariant
public final String getDisplayVariant()
- Returns a name for the locale's variant code that is appropriate for display to the
user. If possible, the name will be localized for the default locale. If the locale
doesn't specify a variant code, this function returns the empty string.
getDisplayVariant
public String getDisplayVariant(Locale inLocale)
- Returns a name for the locale's variant code that is appropriate for display to the
user. If possible, the name will be localized for inLocale. If the locale
doesn't specify a variant code, this function returns the empty string.
getDisplayName
public final String getDisplayName()
- Returns a name for the locale that is appropriate for display to the
user. This will be the values returned by getDisplayLanguage(), getDisplayCountry(),
and getDisplayVariant() assembled into a single string. The display name will have
one of the following forms:
language (country, variant)
language (country)
language (variant)
country (variant)
language
country
variant
depending on which fields are specified in the locale. If the language, country,
and variant fields are all empty, this function returns the empty string.
getDisplayName
public String getDisplayName(Locale inLocale)
- Returns a name for the locale that is appropriate for display to the
user. This will be the values returned by getDisplayLanguage(), getDisplayCountry(),
and getDisplayVariant() assembled into a single string. The display name will have
one of the following forms:
language (country, variant)
language (country)
language (variant)
country (variant)
language
country
variant
depending on which fields are specified in the locale. If the language, country,
and variant fields are all empty, this function returns the empty string.
clone
public Object clone()
- Overrides Cloneable
- Overrides:
clone in class Object
- Returns:
- a clone of this instance.
- See Also:
Cloneable
hashCode
public int hashCode()
- Override hashCode.
Since Locales are often used in hashtables, caches the value
for speed.
- Overrides:
hashCode in class Object
- Returns:
- a hash code value for this object.
- See Also:
Object.equals(java.lang.Object),
Hashtable
equals
public boolean equals(Object obj)
- Returns true if this Locale is equal to another object. A Locale is
deemed equal to another Locale with identical language, country,
and variant, and unequal to all other objects.
- Overrides:
equals in class Object
- Parameters:
obj - the reference object with which to compare.
- Returns:
- true if this Locale is equal to the specified object.
- See Also:
Object.hashCode(),
Hashtable
Copyright 2003 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved
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