C library - localeconv() function

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The C library localeconv() function sets the components of a struct lconv to values appropriate for the current locale. The struct may be overwritten by another call to localeconv(), or by calling the setlocale() function.

Syntax

Following is the syntax of the C library localeconv() function −

struct lconv *localeconv(void)

Parameters

• This function doesn't accept any parameter.

Return Value

This function returns a pointer to a struct lconv for the current locale, which has the following structure −

typedef struct {
   char *decimal_point;
   char *thousands_sep;
   char *grouping;	
   char *int_curr_symbol;
   char *currency_symbol;
   char *mon_decimal_point;
   char *mon_thousands_sep;
   char *mon_grouping;
   char *positive_sign;
   char *negative_sign;
   char int_frac_digits;
   char frac_digits;
   char p_cs_precedes;
   char p_sep_by_space;
   char n_cs_precedes;
   char n_sep_by_space;
   char p_sign_posn;
   char n_sign_posn;
} lconv

Example 1

Following is the basic C program to display the usage of localeconv() function.

#include <locale.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int main () {
   struct lconv * lc;

   setlocale(LC_MONETARY, "it_IT");
   lc = localeconv();
   printf("Local Currency Symbol: %s\n", lc -> currency_symbol);
   printf("International Currency Symbol: %s\n", lc -> int_curr_symbol);

   setlocale(LC_MONETARY, "en_US");
   lc = localeconv();
   printf("Local Currency Symbol: %s\n", lc -> currency_symbol);
   printf("International Currency Symbol: %s\n", lc -> int_curr_symbol);

   setlocale(LC_MONETARY, "en_GB");
   lc = localeconv();
   printf ("Local Currency Symbol: %s\n", lc -> currency_symbol);
   printf ("International Currency Symbol: %s\n", lc -> int_curr_symbol);

   printf("Decimal Point = %s\n", lc->decimal_point);
   
   return 0;
}

Output

The above code produces the following result −

Local Currency Symbol: EUR
International Currency Symbol: EUR
Local Currency Symbol: $
International Currency Symbol: USD
Local Currency Symbol: £
International Currency Symbol: GBP
Decimal Point = .

Example 2

Below the program retrieves the numeric formatting information using localeconv() function.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <locale.h>

int main() {
   // Set the locale to the user's default locale
   setlocale(LC_ALL, "");

   // Get the numeric formatting information
   struct lconv *localeInfo = localeconv();
   
   printf("Following Outputs-");
   printf("Decimal separator: %s\n", localeInfo -> decimal_point);
   printf("Thousands separator: %s\n", localeInfo -> thousands_sep);
   printf("Currency symbol: %s\n", localeInfo -> currency_symbol);

   return 0;
}

Output

On execution of above code, we get the following result −

Following outputs-
Decimal separator: .
Thousands separator: ,
Currency symbol: $

Example 3

Here, we are accessing the information of date and time formatting using localeconv().

#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <locale.h>

int main() {
    // Set the locale to the user's default locale
    setlocale(LC_ALL, "");

    // Get the current time
    time_t t = time(NULL);
    struct tm *tm_info = localtime(&t);

    // Buffer to hold the formatted date and time string
    char buffer[80];

    // Formatting of date and time according to the locale
    strftime(buffer, sizeof(buffer), "%c", tm_info);

    // Print the formatted date and time string
    printf("Formatted date and time: %s\n", buffer);

    return 0;
}

Output

After compiling the above code, we get the following result −

Formatted date and time: Mon May 20 12:49:30 2024