---
name: "localehelper"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "localehelper"
version: "0.1.7-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/localehelper"
---

# localehelper(1)

generate locales and set internationalization environment variables

## NAME

localehelper - generate locales and set internationalization environment variables

## SYNOPSIS

**localehelper** \[-x *locale*\[,*locale*...\]\] \[*intvar*=*locale*\[,*locale-fallback*...\]\]... \[--\] *commandline*

**localehelper** {-h \| --help}

## DESCRIPTION

- 1\. Set each internationalization environment variable to *locale* (possibly falling back to *locale-fallback*).

  - 2\. Unset all other internationalization environment variables.

  - 3\. If needed, generate missing locales (in a temporary location).

  - 4\. Run the specified command.

  ## OPTIONS

- **-x** *locale*\[,*locale*...\]

  Make sure these locales are available, even when they are not used in any internationalization environment variable.

- **-h**, **--help**

  Show help message and exit.

## ENVIRONMENT

The following environment variables can be set or unset by **localehelper**:

- **LANG**

  fall-back for **LC\_*****\**** variables

- **LC\_COLLATE**

  affects regular expression matching and string collation.

- **LC\_CTYPE**

  affects regular expression matching, character classification, conversion, case-sensitive comparison, and wide character functions

- **LC\_MESSAGES**

  affects natural-language messages

- **LC\_MONETARY**

  affects monetary formatting

- **LC\_NUMERIC**

  affects number formatting

- **LC\_TIME**

  affects time and date formatting

- other **LC\_*****\****

  may affect other linguistic and cultural aspects

- **LC\_ALL**

  overrides all **LC\_*****\****

- **LANGUAGE**

  affects natural-language messages

The following environment variables may be used by users to announce specific localization requirements to applications, but are left intact by **localehelper**:

- **NLSPATH**

  message catalogue path for [**catopen**(3)](/catopen/3.md)

- **TEXTDOMAIN**

  message catalogue domain for [**gettext**(1)](/gettext/1.md)

- **TEXTDOMAINDIR**

  message catalogue directory for [**gettext**(1)](/gettext/1.md)

## EXAMPLES

```
 $ localehelper LANG=es_ES.UTF-8 locale mon | xargs -n1 -d ';'
 enero
 febrero
 marzo
 abril
 mayo
 junio
 julio
 agosto
 septiembre
 octubre
 noviembre
 diciembre
```

## SEE ALSO

- •

  [**locale**(7)](/locale/7.md)

- •

  POSIX:2004 \<https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/basedefs/xbd\_chap08.html#tag\_08\_02\>

- •

  GNU gettext manual \<https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/html\_node/Setting-the-POSIX-Locale.html\>