Document revision date: 19 July 1999

The LC_TIME locale definition source file uses field descriptors to represent elements of time and date formats. You can combine these field descriptors to create other field descriptors or to create time and date format strings. When used in format strings that contain field descriptors and other characters, field descriptors are replaced by their current values. All other characters are copied without change. Table 2-8 lists the field descriptors used by commands and subroutines that query the LC_TIME category for time formatting.

Table 2-8 LC_TIME Locale Field Descriptors

Field Descriptor	Meaning
%a	Represents the abbreviated weekday name (for example, Sun) defined by the abday statement.
%A	Represents the full weekday name (for example, Sunday) defined by the day statement.
%b	Represents the abbreviated month name (for example, Jan) defined by the abmon statement.
%B	Represents the full month name (for example, January) defined by the mon statement.
%c	Represents the date-and-time format defined by the d_t_fmt statement.
%C	Represents the century as a decimal number (00 to 99).
%d	Represents the day of the month as a decimal number (01 to 31).
%D	Represents the date in %m/%d/%y format (for example, 01/31/91).
%e	Represents the day of the month as a decimal number (1 to 31). If the day of the month is not a 2-digit number, the leading digit is filled with a space character.
%Ec	Specifies the alternate date-and-time representation for the locale.
%EC	Specifies the name of the base year (period) in the locale's alternate representation.
%Ex	Specifies the alternate date representation for the locale.
%Ey	Specifies the offset from %EC (year only) in the locale's alternate representation.
%EY	Specifies the full alternate year representation.
%h	Represents the abbreviated month name (for example, Jan) defined by the abmon statement. This field descriptor is a synonym for the %b field descriptor.
%H	Represents the 24-hour clock hour as a decimal number (00 to 23).
%I	Represents the 12-hour clock hour as a decimal number (01 to 12).
%j	Represents the day of the year as a decimal number (001 to 366).
%m	Represents the month of the year as a decimal number (01 to 12).
%M	Represents the minutes of the hour as a decimal number (00 to 59).
%n	Specifies a new-line character.
%Od	Specifies the day of the month by using the locale's alternate numeric symbols.
%Oe	Specifies the day of the month by using the locale's alternate numeric symbols.
%OH	Specifies the hour (24-hour clock) by using the locale's alternate numeric symbols.
%OI	Specifies the hour (12-hour clock) by using the locale's alternate numeric symbols.
%Om	Specifies the month by using the locale's alternate numeric symbols.
%OM	Specifies the minutes by using the locale's alternate numeric symbols.
%OS	Specifies the seconds by using the locale's alternate numeric symbols.
%OU	Specifies the week number of the year (with Sunday as the first day of the week) by using the locale's alternate numeric symbols.
%Ow	Specifies the weekday as a number in the locale's alternate representation (Sunday = 0).
%OW	Specifies the week number of the year (with Monday as the first day of the week) by using the locale's alternate numeric symbols.
%Oy	Specifies the year (offset from %C) using the locale's alternate numeric symbols.
%p	Represents the a.m. or p.m. string defined by the am_pm statement.
%r	Represents the 12-hour clock time with a.m./p.m. notation as defined by the t_fmt_ampm statement.
%S	Represents the seconds of the minute as a decimal number (00 to 59).
%t	Specifies a tab character.
%T	Represents 24-hour clock time in the format %H:%M:%S (for example, 16:55:15).
%U	Represents the week of the year as a decimal number (00 to 53). Sunday, or its equivalent as defined by the day statement, is considered the first day of the week for calculating the value of this field descriptor.
%w	Represents the day of the week as a decimal number (0 to 6). Sunday, or its equivalent as defined by the day statement, is considered to be 0 (zero) for calculating the value of this field descriptor.
%W	Represents the week of the year as a decimal number (00 to 53). Monday, or its equivalent as defined by the day statement, is considered the first day of the week for calculating the value of this field descriptor.
%x	Represents the date format defined by the d_fmt statement.
%X	Represents the time format defined by the t_fmt statement.
%y	Represents the year of the century (00 to 99).
%Y	Represents the year as a decimal number (for example, 1989).
%%	Specifies a % (percent sign) character.

2.7.3 Sample Locale Definition

The following is a sample LC_TIME category specified in a locale definition source file:

LC_TIME # #Abbreviated weekday names (%a) abday "<S><u><n>";"<M><o><n>";"<T><u><e>";"<W><e><d>";\ "<T><h><u>";"<F><r><i>";"<S><a><t>" #Full weekday names (%A) day "<S><u><n><d><a><y>";"<M><o><n><d><a><y>";\ "<T><u><e><s><d><a><y>";"<W><e><d><n><e><s><d><a><y>";\ <T><h><u><r><s><d><a><y>";"<F><r><i><d><a><y>";\ <S><a><t><u><r><d><a><y>" #Abbreviated month names (%b) abmon "<J><a><n>";"<F><e><b>";"<M><a><r>";"<A><P><r>";\ "<M><a><y>";"<J><u><n>";"<J><u><l>";"<A><u><g>";\ <S><e><P>";"<O><c><t>";"<N><o><v>";"<D><e><c>" #Full month names (%B) mon "<J><a><n><u><a><r><y>";"<F><e><b><r><u><a><r><y>";\ "<M><a><r><c><h>";"<A><P><r><i><l>";"<M><a><y>";\ <J><u><n><e>";"<J><u><l><y>";"<A><u><g><u><s><t>";\ "<S><e><P><t><e><m><b><e><r>";"<O><c><t><o><b><e><r>";\ <N><o><v><e><m><b><e><r>";"<D><e><c><e><m><b><e><r>" #Date-and-time format (%c) #Note that for improved readability, this section uses actual #characters, rather than symbolic names, and is inconsistent with #the other sections in this example. This is bad form. #In practice, symbolic names should be used. d_t_fmt "%a %b %d %H:%M:%S %Y" # #Date format (%x) d_fmt "%m/%d/%y" # #Time format (%X) t_fmt "%H:%M:%S" # #Equivalent of AM/PM (%p) am_pm "<A><M>";"<P><M>" # #12-hour time format (%r) #Note that for improved readability, this section uses actual #characters, rather than symbolic names, and is inconsistent with #the other sections in this example. This is bad form. #In practice, symbolic names should be used. t_fmt_ampm "%I:%M:%S %p" # era "+:0:0000/01/01:+*:AD:%Ey %EC";\ "+:1:-0001/12/31:-*:BC:%Ey %EC" era_d_fmt "" alt_digits "<0><t><h>";"<1><s><t>";"<2><n><d>";"<3><r><d>";\ "<4><t><h>";"<5><t><h>";"<6><t><h>";"<7><t><h>";\ "<8><t><h>";"<9><t><h>";"<1><0><t><h>" # END LC_TIME

The character set description file, called the charmap file, defines character symbols as character encodings. This file is the source file for a coded character set, or codeset.

3.1 Portable Character Set

All supported codesets have the Portable Character Set (PCS) as a proper subset. The PCS consists of the character symbols (listed by their standardized symbolic names) and their hexadecimal encodings, as shown in Table 3-1.

Table 3-1 Portable Character Set

Symbol Name	Hexadecimal Encoding
<NUL>	\x00
<alert>	\x07
<backspace>	\x08
<tab>	\x09
<newline>	\x0A
<vertical-tab>	\x0B
<form-feed>	\x0C
<carriage-return>	\x0D
<space>	\x20
<exclamation-mark>	\x21
<quotation-mark>	\x22
<number-sign>	\x23
<dollar-sign>	\x24
<percent>	\x25
<ampersand>	\x26
<apostrophe>	\x27
<left-parenthesis>	\x28
<right-parenthesis>	\x29
<asterisk>	\x2A
<plus-sign>	\x2B
<comma>	\x2C
<hyphen>	\x2D
<period>	\x2E
<slash>	\x2F
<zero>	\x30
<one>	\x31
<two>	\x32
<three>	\x33
<four>	\x34
<five>	\x35
<six>	\x36
<seven>	\x37
<eight>	\x38
<nine>	\x39
<colon>	\x3A
<semi-colon>	\x3B
<less-than>	\x3C
<equal-sign>	\x3D
<greater-than>	\x3E
<question-mark>	\x3F
<commercial-at>	\x40
<A>	\x41
<B>	\x42
<C>	\x43
<D>	\x44
<E>	\x45
<F>	\x46
<G>	\x47
<H>	\x48
<I>	\x49
<J>	\x4A
<K>	\x4B
<L>	\x4C
<M>	\x4D
<N>	\x4E
<O>	\x4F
<P>	\x50
<Q>	\x51
<R>	\x52
<S>	\x53
<T>	\x54
<U>	\x55
<V>	\x56
<W>	\x57
<X>	\x58
<Y>	\x59
<Z>	\x5A
<left-bracket>	\x5B
<backslash>	\x5C
<right-bracket>	\x5D
<circumflex>	\x5E
<underscore>	\x5F
<grave-accent>	\x60
<a>	\x61
<b>	\x62
<c>	\x63
<d>	\x64
<e>	\x65
<f>	\x66
<g>	\x67
<h>	\x68
<i>	\x69
<j>	\x6A
<k>	\x6B
<l>	\x6C
<m>	\x6D
<n>	\x6E
<o>	\x6F
<p>	\x70
<q>	\x71
<r>	\x72
<s>	\x73
<t>	\x74
<u>	\x75
<v>	\x76
<w>	\x77
<x>	\x78
<y>	\x79
<z>	\x7A
<left-brace>	\x7B
<vertical-line>	\x7C
<right-brace>	\x7D
<tilde>	\x7E

3.2 Components of a Charmap File

A charmap file has the following components:

• An optional special symbolic name declarations section
  Each declaration in this section consists of a special symbolic name, followed by one or more space or tab characters, and a value. The following list describes the special symbolic names that you can include in the declarations section:
  • <code_set_name>
    Specifies the name of the codeset for which the charmap file is defined. This value determines the value returned by the nl_langinfo (CODESET) subroutine. If <code_set_name> is not declared, the name for the Portable Character Set is used.
  • <mb_cur_max>
    Specifies the maximum number of bytes in a character for the codeset. Valid values are 1 to 4. The default value is 1.
  • <mb_cur_min>
    Specifies the minimum number of bytes in a character for the codeset. Since all supported codesets have the Portable Character Set as a proper subset, this value must be 1.
  • <escape_char>
    Specifies the escape character that indicates encodings in hexadecimal or octal notation. The default value is a backslash (\).
  • <comment_char>
    Specifies the character used to indicate a comment within a charmap file. The default value is the number sign (#).
• The CHARMAP section header
  This header marks the beginning of the section that associates character symbols with encodings.
• Mapping statements for characters in the codeset
  Each statement specifies a symbolic name for a character and the associated encoding for that character. A mapping statement has the following format:

  <char_symbol> encoding

  
  A symbolic name begins with the left angle-bracket (<) character and ends with the right angle-bracket (>) character. For char_symbol (the name between < and >), you can use any characters from the Portable Character Set, except for control and space characters. You can use a > in char_symbol; if you do, precede all > characters except the last one with the escape character (as specified by the <escape_char> special symbolic name).
  An encoding is specified as one or more character constants, with the maximum number of character constants specified by the <mb_cur_max> special symbolic name. The encoding may be specified as decimal, octal, or hexadecimal constants with the following formats:

  • Decimal constant: \dnn or \dnnn, where n is any decimal digit
  • Octal constant: \nn or \nnn, where n is any octal digit
  • Hexadecimal constant: \xnn, where n is any hexadecimal digit
  
  The following are sample character symbol definitions:

  <A> \d65 #decimal constant <B> \x42 #hexadecimal constant <j10101> \x81\xA1 #multiple hexadecimal constants

  
  You can also define a range of symbolic names and corresponding encoded values, where the nonnumeric prefix for each symbolic name is common, and the numeric portion of the second symbolic name is equal to or greater than the numeric portion of the first symbolic name. In this format, a symbolic name value consists of zero or more nonnumeric characters followed by an integer of one or more decimal digits. This format defines a series of symbolic names. For example, the string <j0101>...<j0104> is interpreted as the symbolic names <j0101>, <j0102>, <j0103>, and <j0104>, in that order.
  In statements defining ranges of symbolic names, the specified encoded value is the value for the first symbolic name in the range. Subsequent symbolic names have encoded values in increasing order. Consider the following sample statement:

  <j0101>...<j0104> \d129\d254

  
  This sample statement is interpreted as follows:

  <j0101> \d129\d254 <j0102> \d129\d255 <j0103> \d130\d0 <j0104> \d130\d1

  
  You cannot assign multiple encodings to one symbolic name, but you can create multiple names for one encoded value because some characters have several common names. For example, the . character is called a period in some parts of the world, and a full stop in others. You can specify both names in the charmap. For example:

  <period> \x2e <full-stop> \x2e

  
  Any comments must begin with the character specified by the <comment_char> special symbolic name. When an entire line is a comment, you must specify the <comment_char> in the first column of the line.

• The END CHARMAP section trailer
  This trailer indicates the end of character map statements.

The following is a portion of a sample charmap file:

CHARMAP <code_set_name> "ISO8859-1" <mb_cur_max> 1 <mb_cur_min> 1 <escape_char> \ <comment_char> # <NUL> \x00 <SOH> \x01 <STX> \x02 <ETX> \x03 <EOT> \x04 <ENQ> \x05 <ACK> \x06 <alert> \x07 <backspace> \x08 <tab> \x09 <newline> \x0a <vertical-tab> \x0b <form-feed> \x0c <carriage-return> \x0d END CHARMAP

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