---
name: "locale"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "man-pages"
version: "6.19-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "openbsd", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/locale"
---

# locale(1)

get locale-specific information

## NAME

locale - get locale-specific information

## SYNOPSIS

**locale** \[*option*\]

**locale** \[*option*\] **-a**

**locale** \[*option*\] **-m**

**locale** \[*option*\] *name* ...

## DESCRIPTION

The **locale** command displays information about the current locale, or all locales, on standard output.

When invoked without arguments, **locale** displays the current locale settings for each locale category (see [**locale**(5)](/locale/5.md)), based on the settings of the environment variables that control the locale (see [**locale**(7)](/locale/7.md)). Values for variables set in the environment are printed without double quotes, implied values are printed with double quotes.

If either the **-a** or the **-m** option (or one of their long-format equivalents) is specified, the behavior is as follows:

- **--all-locales** **-a**

  Display a list of all available locales. The **-v** option causes the **LC\_IDENTIFICATION** metadata about each locale to be included in the output.

- **--charmaps** **-m**

  Display the available charmaps (character set description files). To display the current character set for the locale, use *locale -c charmap*.

The **locale** command can also be provided with one or more arguments, which are the names of locale keywords (for example, *date\_fmt*, *ctype-class-names*, *yesexpr*, or *decimal\_point*) or locale categories (for example, **LC\_CTYPE** or **LC\_TIME**). For each argument, the following is displayed:

- •

  For a locale keyword, the value of that keyword to be displayed.

- •

  For a locale category, the values of all keywords in that category are displayed.

When arguments are supplied, the following options are meaningful:

- **--category-name** **-c**

  For a category name argument, write the name of the locale category on a separate line preceding the list of keyword values for that category.

-

  For a keyword name argument, write the name of the locale category for this keyword on a separate line preceding the keyword value.

-

  This option improves readability when multiple name arguments are specified. It can be combined with the **-k** option.

- **--keyword-name** **-k**

  For each keyword whose value is being displayed, include also the name of that keyword, so that the output has the format:

-

  ```
  keyword="value"
  ```

The **locale** command also knows about the following options:

- **--verbose** **-v**

  Display additional information for some command-line option and argument combinations.

- **--help** **-?**

  Display a summary of command-line options and arguments and exit.

- **--usage**

  Display a short usage message and exit.

- **--version** **-V**

  Display the program version and exit.

## FILES

- */usr/lib/locale/locale-archive*

  Usual default locale archive location.

- */usr/share/i18n/locales*

  Usual default path for locale definition files.

## STANDARDS

POSIX.1-2008.

## HISTORY

POSIX.1-2001.

## EXAMPLES

```
$ locale;
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=
```

$ **locale date\_fmt**; %a %b %e %H:%M:%S %Z %Y

$ **locale -k date\_fmt**; date\_fmt="%a %b %e %H:%M:%S %Z %Y"

$ **locale -ck date\_fmt**; LC\_TIME date\_fmt="%a %b %e %H:%M:%S %Z %Y"

$ **locale LC\_TELEPHONE**; +%c (%a) %l (%a) %l 11 1 UTF-8

$ **locale -k LC\_TELEPHONE**; tel\_int\_fmt="+%c (%a) %l" tel\_dom\_fmt="(%a) %l" int\_select="11" int\_prefix="1" telephone-codeset="UTF-8"

The following example compiles a custom locale from the *./wrk* directory with the [**localedef**(1)](/localedef/1.md) utility under the *$HOME/.locale* directory, then tests the result with the [**date**(1)](/date/1.md) command, and then sets the environment variables **LOCPATH** and **LANG** in the shell profile file so that the custom locale will be used in the subsequent user sessions:

```
$ mkdir -p $HOME/.locale;
$ I18NPATH=./wrk/ localedef -f UTF-8 -i fi_SE $HOME/.locale/fi_SE.UTF-8;
$ LOCPATH=$HOME/.locale LC_ALL=fi_SE.UTF-8 date;
$ echo "export LOCPATH=\$HOME/.locale" >> $HOME/.bashrc;
$ echo "export LANG=fi_SE.UTF-8" >> $HOME/.bashrc;
```

## SEE ALSO

[**localedef**(1)](/localedef/1.md), [**charmap**(5)](/charmap/5.md), [**locale**(5)](/locale/5.md), [**locale**(7)](/locale/7.md)