[Python-Dev] locale and LC_NUMERIC

Mon Jan 9 22:56:12 CET 2006

Neal Norwitz wrote:
> neal at janus ~/build/python/svn/clean-ish $ LC_ALL=de_DE ./python
>>>>>import locale
>>>>locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL)
>> 'C'
>>>>>locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, 'de_DE')
>> 'de_DE'
>> I would have expected the first call to setlocale() to return de_DE. 

No, it shouldn't. We are providing C semantics here, which is that
no locale functionality is activated unless the application explicitly
asks for it.
> Is the first call to
> setlocale() supposed to return C? If so, always?

The return value is implementation-defined, but yes, it is supposed
to return the "C" locale (which is synonymous to the "POSIX" locale
on a POSIX system).
> I was looking for
> some way for the initial call to setlocale() to return de_DE or
> whatever other locale I set.

That shouldn't happen.
Regards,
Martin