---
name: "locale"
section: "1"
platform: "freebsd"
package: "base"
version: "16.0-CURRENT-20261027-61c70dc16a79"
release: "FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT (2026-10-27)"
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** \[**-a** \| **-m**\]

**locale** **-k** **list** \[*prefix*\]

**locale** \[**-ck**\] \[*keyword* *...*\]

## DESCRIPTION

The **locale** utility is supposed to provide most locale specific information to the standard output.

When **locale** is invoked without arguments, it will print out a summary of the current locale environment, subject to the environment settings and internal status.

When **locale** is invoked with the *keyword* arguments, and no options are specified, it will print out the values of all keywords specified, using the current locale settings.

The following options are available:

- **-a**

  Print names of all available locales. While looking for locales, **locale** will respect the PATH\_LOCALE environment variable, and use it instead of the system's default locale directory.

- **-c**

  Print the category name for all selected keywords. If no keywords are selected, print the category name for all defined keywords.

- **-k**

  Print the names and values of all selected keywords. If no keywords are selected, print the names and values of all defined keywords.

- **-m**

  Print names of all available charmaps.

## IMPLEMENTATION NOTES

The special (FreeBSD specific) keyword **list** can be used to retrieve the human readable list of all available keywords. If so, a prefix string can be defined to limit the amount of keywords returned.

## EXIT STATUS

The **locale** utility exits 0 on success, and \>0 if an error occurs.

## SEE ALSO

[setlocale(3)](/setlocale/3.md)

## STANDARDS

The **locale** utility conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-2004 (“POSIX.1”). The LC\_CTYPE, LC\_MESSAGES and NLSPATH environment variables are not interpreted.

## BUGS

Since FreeBSD does not support *charmap*s in their POSIX meaning, **locale** emulates the **-m** option using the CODESETs listing of all available locales.