NAME

duplocale - duplicate a locale object

LIBRARY

Standard C library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS

#include <locale.h>
locale_t duplocale(locale_t locobj);

Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

duplocale():

    Since glibc 2.10:
        _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 700
    Before glibc 2.10:
        _GNU_SOURCE

DESCRIPTION

The duplocale() function creates a duplicate of the locale object referred to by locobj.

If locobj is LC_GLOBAL_LOCALE, duplocale() creates a locale object containing a copy of the global locale determined by setlocale(3).

RETURN VALUE

On success, duplocale() returns a handle for the new locale object. On error, it returns (locale_t) 0, and sets errno to indicate the error.

EXAMPLES

The program below uses uselocale(3) and duplocale() to obtain a handle for the current locale which is then passed to toupper_l(3). The program takes one command-line argument, a string of characters that is converted to uppercase and displayed on standard output. An example of its use is the following:

$ ./a.out abc
ABC

Program source

#define _XOPEN_SOURCE 700
#include <ctype.h>
#include <locale.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define errExit(msg)    do { perror(msg); exit(EXIT_FAILURE); \
                        } while (0)
int
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    locale_t loc, nloc;
    if (argc != 2) {
        fprintf(stderr, "Usage: %s string\n", argv[0]);
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }
    /* This sequence is necessary, because uselocale() might return
       the value LC_GLOBAL_LOCALE, which can't be passed as an
       argument to toupper_l(). */
    loc = uselocale((locale_t) 0);
    if (loc == (locale_t) 0)
        errExit("uselocale");
    nloc = duplocale(loc);
    if (nloc == (locale_t) 0)
        errExit("duplocale");
    for (char *p = argv[1]; *p; p++)
        putchar(toupper_l(*p, nloc));
    printf("\n");
    freelocale(nloc);
    exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}

ERRORS

ENOMEM: Insufficient memory to create the duplicate locale object.

STANDARDS

POSIX.1-2008.

HISTORY

glibc 2.3.

NOTES

Duplicating a locale can serve the following purposes:

To create a copy of a locale object in which one of more categories are to be modified (using newlocale(3)).
To obtain a handle for the current locale which can used in other functions that employ a locale handle, such as toupper_l(3). This is done by applying duplocale() to the value returned by the following call:
```
loc = uselocale((locale_t) 0);
```
This technique is necessary, because the above uselocale(3) call may return the value LC_GLOBAL_LOCALE, which results in undefined behavior if passed to functions such as toupper_l(3). Calling duplocale() can be used to ensure that the LC_GLOBAL_LOCALE value is converted into a usable locale object. See EXAMPLES, below.

Each locale object created by duplocale() should be deallocated using freelocale(3).