Server Locale Names

As you have seen in a previous section, locale names are system-dependent. Each system has its own way of identifying the locale information. To use locale-dependent information in a system-independent way, Server defines the concept of an Server locale, whose name is system-independent. This locale has the following format (this is compatible with the locale support provided by Views):

ll_TT.encoding

where:

  • ll is a two-letter, lowercase abbreviation of the language name.

  • TT is a two-letter, uppercase abbreviation of the territory name.

  • encoding is a string that identifies the code set, or the encoding method used.

For example, in the Server locale name fr_FR.ISO-8859-1, fr represents the language name, French; FR represents the territory name, France; ISO-8859-1 represents the encoding method used for the language, which is ISO 8859-1.

The following examples show several Server locale names on Unix® platforms:

  • fr_FR.ISO-8859-1

  • de_DE.ISO-8859-1

  • ja_JP.EUC-JP

  • ja_JP.Shift_JIS

The following examples show several Server locale names on Windows® platforms:

  • fr_FR.windows-1252

  • de_DE.windows-1252

  • ja_JP.Shift_JIS

Language Name Specification

In the Server locale, the language names are specified using the abbreviations from the ISO 639 Code for the Representation of Names of Languages.

Here are several examples:

  • en (English)

  • fr (French)

  • de (German, from “Deutsch”)

  • ja (Japanese)

Information on The ISO 639 standard can be found on the following web sites:

http://www.infoterm.info/standardization/iso_639_1_2002.php

http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/code_list.php

Territory Name Specification

In the Server locale, the territory names are specified using the abbreviations from the ISO 3166 Codes for the Representation of Names of Countries.

The ISO 3166 standard can be consulted on the following web site:

http://www.iso.org/iso/country_codes.htm

Here are several examples:

  • US (United States)

  • NL (the Netherlands)

  • FR (France)

  • DE (Germany, from “Deutschland”)

  • JP (Japan)

Encoding Specification

In the Server locale, the encoding identifies the code set or encoding method used for the language. Examples of encoding methods are:

  • ISO-8859-1 (ISO 8859/1)

  • Shift_JIS (Shift Japanese Industrial Standard)

Any character encoding registered by IANA could be used. But for now, only character sets listed at the end of this chapter can be used by Server, which tends to use the preferred MIME notation.

For more information, you can consult the following ftp site:

http://www.isi.edu/in-notes/iana/assignments/character-sets

You will find the list of the encodings Server supports with the languages they apply to in Encodings.