Package java.util

Class Locale

java.lang.Object

java.util.Locale

All Implemented Interfaces:

Serializable, Cloneable

public final class Locale
extends Object
implements Cloneable, Serializable

Locale represents a language/country/variant combination. Locales are used to alter the presentation of information such as numbers or dates to suit the conventions in the region they describe.

The language codes are two-letter lowercase ISO language codes (such as "en") as defined by ISO 639-1. The country codes are two-letter uppercase ISO country codes (such as "US") as defined by ISO 3166-1. The variant codes are unspecified.

Note that Java uses several deprecated two-letter codes. The Hebrew ("he") language code is rewritten as "iw", Indonesian ("id") as "in", and Yiddish ("yi") as "ji". This rewriting happens even if you construct your own Locale object, not just for instances returned by the various lookup methods.

Available locales

This class' constructors do no error checking. You can create a Locale for languages and countries that don't exist, and you can create instances for combinations that don't exist (such as "de_US" for "German as spoken in the US").

Note that locale data is not necessarily available for any of the locales pre-defined as constants in this class except for en_US, which is the only locale Java guarantees is always available.

It is also a mistake to assume that all devices have the same locales available. A device sold in the US will almost certainly support en_US and es_US, but not necessarily any locales with the same language but different countries (such as en_GB or es_ES), nor any locales for other languages (such as de_DE). The opposite may well be true for a device sold in Europe.

You can use getDefault() to get an appropriate locale for the user of the device you're running on, or getAvailableLocales() to get a list of all the locales available on the device you're running on.

Locale data

Note that locale data comes solely from ICU. User-supplied locale service providers (using the java.text.spi or java.util.spi mechanisms) are not supported.

Here are the versions of ICU (and the corresponding CLDR and Unicode versions) used in various Android releases:

Android 1.5 (Cupcake)/Android 1.6 (Donut)/Android 2.0 (Eclair)	ICU 3.8	CLDR 1.5	Unicode 5.0
Android 2.2 (Froyo)	ICU 4.2	CLDR 1.7	Unicode 5.1
Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)/Android 3.0 (Honeycomb)	ICU 4.4	CLDR 1.8	Unicode 5.2
Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)	ICU 4.6	CLDR 1.9	Unicode 6.0
Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)	ICU 4.8	CLDR 2.0	Unicode 6.0
Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean MR2)	ICU 50	CLDR 22.1	Unicode 6.2
Android 4.4 (KitKat)	ICU 51	CLDR 23	Unicode 6.2

Be wary of the default locale

Note that there are many convenience methods that automatically use the default locale, but using them may lead to subtle bugs.

The default locale is appropriate for tasks that involve presenting data to the user. In this case, you want to use the user's date/time formats, number formats, rules for conversion to lowercase, and so on. In this case, it's safe to use the convenience methods.

The default locale is not appropriate for machine-readable output. The best choice there is usually Locale.US – this locale is guaranteed to be available on all devices, and the fact that it has no surprising special cases and is frequently used (especially for computer-computer communication) means that it tends to be the most efficient choice too.

A common mistake is to implicitly use the default locale when producing output meant to be machine-readable. This tends to work on the developer's test devices (especially because so many developers use en_US), but fails when run on a device whose user is in a more complex locale.

For example, if you're formatting integers some locales will use non-ASCII decimal digits. As another example, if you're formatting floating-point numbers some locales will use ',' as the decimal point and '.' for digit grouping. That's correct for human-readable output, but likely to cause problems if presented to another computer (Double.parseDouble(java.lang.String) can't parse such a number, for example). You should also be wary of the String.toLowerCase() and String.toUpperCase() overloads that don't take a Locale: in Turkey, for example, the characters 'i' and 'I' won't be converted to 'I' and 'i'. This is the correct behavior for Turkish text (such as user input), but inappropriate for, say, HTTP headers.

See Also:

Serialized Form

Field Summary

Fields

Modifier and Type	Field	Description
static Locale	CANADA	Locale constant for en_CA.
static Locale	CANADA_FRENCH	Locale constant for fr_CA.
static Locale	CHINA	Locale constant for zh_CN.
static Locale	CHINESE	Locale constant for zh.
static Locale	ENGLISH	Locale constant for en.
static Locale	FRANCE	Locale constant for fr_FR.
static Locale	FRENCH	Locale constant for fr.
static Locale	GERMAN	Locale constant for de.
static Locale	GERMANY	Locale constant for de_DE.
static Locale	ITALIAN	Locale constant for it.
static Locale	ITALY	Locale constant for it_IT.
static Locale	JAPAN	Locale constant for ja_JP.
static Locale	JAPANESE	Locale constant for ja.
static Locale	KOREA	Locale constant for ko_KR.
static Locale	KOREAN	Locale constant for ko.
static Locale	PRC	Locale constant for zh_CN.
static Locale	ROOT	Locale constant for the root locale.
static Locale	SIMPLIFIED_CHINESE	Locale constant for zh_CN.
static Locale	TAIWAN	Locale constant for zh_TW.
static Locale	TRADITIONAL_CHINESE	Locale constant for zh_TW.
static Locale	UK	Locale constant for en_GB.
static Locale	US	Locale constant for en_US.

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor	Description
Locale(String language)	Constructs a new Locale using the specified language.
Locale(String language, String country)	Constructs a new Locale using the specified language and country codes.
Locale(String language, String country, String variant)	Constructs a new Locale using the specified language, country, and variant codes.

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method	Description
Object	clone()	Creates and returns a copy of this Object.
boolean	equals(Object object)	Returns true if object is a locale with the same language, country and variant.
static Locale[]	getAvailableLocales()	Returns the system's installed locales.
String	getCountry()	Returns the country code for this locale, or "" if this locale doesn't correspond to a specific country.
static Locale	getDefault()	Returns the user's preferred locale.
String	getDisplayCountry()	Equivalent to getDisplayCountry(Locale.getDefault()).
String	getDisplayCountry(Locale locale)	Returns the name of this locale's country, localized to locale.
String	getDisplayLanguage()	Equivalent to getDisplayLanguage(Locale.getDefault()).
String	getDisplayLanguage(Locale locale)	Returns the name of this locale's language, localized to locale.
String	getDisplayName()	Equivalent to getDisplayName(Locale.getDefault()).
String	getDisplayName(Locale locale)	Returns this locale's language name, country name, and variant, localized to locale.
String	getDisplayVariant()	Returns the full variant name in the default Locale for the variant code of this Locale.
String	getDisplayVariant(Locale locale)	Returns the full variant name in the specified Locale for the variant code of this Locale.
String	getISO3Country()	Returns the three-letter ISO 3166 country code which corresponds to the country code for this Locale.
String	getISO3Language()	Returns the three-letter ISO 639-2/T language code which corresponds to the language code for this Locale.
static String[]	getISOCountries()	Returns an array of strings containing all the two-letter ISO 3166 country codes that can be used as the country code when constructing a Locale.
static String[]	getISOLanguages()	Returns an array of strings containing all the two-letter ISO 639-1 language codes that can be used as the language code when constructing a Locale.
String	getLanguage()	Returns the language code for this Locale or the empty string if no language was set.
String	getVariant()	Returns the variant code for this Locale or an empty String if no variant was set.
int	hashCode()	Returns an integer hash code for this object.
static void	setDefault(Locale locale)	Overrides the default locale.
String	toString()	Returns the string representation of this Locale.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

finalize, getClass, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Field Details

CANADA

public static final Locale CANADA

Locale constant for en_CA.

CANADA_FRENCH

public static final Locale CANADA_FRENCH

Locale constant for fr_CA.

CHINA

public static final Locale CHINA

Locale constant for zh_CN.

CHINESE

public static final Locale CHINESE

Locale constant for zh.

ENGLISH

public static final Locale ENGLISH

Locale constant for en.

FRANCE

public static final Locale FRANCE

Locale constant for fr_FR.

FRENCH

public static final Locale FRENCH

Locale constant for fr.

GERMAN

public static final Locale GERMAN

Locale constant for de.

GERMANY

public static final Locale GERMANY

Locale constant for de_DE.

ITALIAN

public static final Locale ITALIAN

Locale constant for it.

ITALY

public static final Locale ITALY

Locale constant for it_IT.

JAPAN

public static final Locale JAPAN

Locale constant for ja_JP.

JAPANESE

public static final Locale JAPANESE

Locale constant for ja.

KOREA

public static final Locale KOREA

Locale constant for ko_KR.

KOREAN

public static final Locale KOREAN

Locale constant for ko.

PRC

public static final Locale PRC

Locale constant for zh_CN.

ROOT

public static final Locale ROOT

Locale constant for the root locale. The root locale has an empty language, country, and variant.

Since:

1.6

SIMPLIFIED_CHINESE

public static final Locale SIMPLIFIED_CHINESE

Locale constant for zh_CN.

TAIWAN

public static final Locale TAIWAN

Locale constant for zh_TW.

TRADITIONAL_CHINESE

public static final Locale TRADITIONAL_CHINESE

Locale constant for zh_TW.

UK

public static final Locale UK

Locale constant for en_GB.

US

public static final Locale US

Locale constant for en_US.

Constructor Details

Locale

public Locale(String language)

Constructs a new Locale using the specified language.

Locale

public Locale(String language,
String country)

Constructs a new Locale using the specified language and country codes.

Locale

public Locale(String language,
String country,
String variant)

Constructs a new Locale using the specified language, country, and variant codes.

Method Details

clone

public Object clone()

Description copied from class: Object

Creates and returns a copy of this Object. The default implementation returns a so-called "shallow" copy: It creates a new instance of the same class and then copies the field values (including object references) from this instance to the new instance. A "deep" copy, in contrast, would also recursively clone nested objects. A subclass that needs to implement this kind of cloning should call super.clone() to create the new instance and then create deep copies of the nested, mutable objects.

Overrides:

clone in class Object

Returns:

a copy of this object.

equals

public boolean equals(Object object)

Returns true if object is a locale with the same language, country and variant.

Overrides:

equals in class Object

Parameters:

object - the object to compare this instance with.

Returns:

true if the specified object is equal to this Object; false otherwise.

See Also:

Object.hashCode()

getAvailableLocales

public static Locale[] getAvailableLocales()

Returns the system's installed locales. This array always includes Locale.US, and usually several others. Most locale-sensitive classes offer their own getAvailableLocales method, which should be preferred over this general purpose method.

See Also:

BreakIterator.getAvailableLocales(), Collator.getAvailableLocales(), DateFormat.getAvailableLocales(), DateFormatSymbols.getAvailableLocales(), DecimalFormatSymbols.getAvailableLocales(), NumberFormat.getAvailableLocales(), Calendar.getAvailableLocales()

getCountry

public String getCountry()

Returns the country code for this locale, or "" if this locale doesn't correspond to a specific country.

getDefault

public static Locale getDefault()

Returns the user's preferred locale. This may have been overridden for this process with setDefault(java.util.Locale).

Since the user's locale changes dynamically, avoid caching this value. Instead, use this method to look it up for each use.

getDisplayCountry

public final String getDisplayCountry()

Equivalent to getDisplayCountry(Locale.getDefault()).

getDisplayCountry

public String getDisplayCountry(Locale locale)

Returns the name of this locale's country, localized to locale. Returns the empty string if this locale does not correspond to a specific country.

getDisplayLanguage

public final String getDisplayLanguage()

Equivalent to getDisplayLanguage(Locale.getDefault()).

getDisplayLanguage

public String getDisplayLanguage(Locale locale)

Returns the name of this locale's language, localized to locale. If the language name is unknown, the language code is returned.

getDisplayName

public final String getDisplayName()

Equivalent to getDisplayName(Locale.getDefault()).

getDisplayName

public String getDisplayName(Locale locale)

Returns this locale's language name, country name, and variant, localized to locale. The exact output form depends on whether this locale corresponds to a specific language, country and variant.

For example:

• new Locale("en").getDisplayName(Locale.US) -> English
• new Locale("en", "US").getDisplayName(Locale.US) -> English (United States)
• new Locale("en", "US", "POSIX").getDisplayName(Locale.US) -> English (United States,Computer)
• new Locale("en").getDisplayName(Locale.FRANCE) -> anglais
• new Locale("en", "US").getDisplayName(Locale.FRANCE) -> anglais (États-Unis)
• new Locale("en", "US", "POSIX").getDisplayName(Locale.FRANCE) -> anglais (États-Unis,informatique).

getDisplayVariant

public final String getDisplayVariant()

Returns the full variant name in the default Locale for the variant code of this Locale. If there is no matching variant name, the variant code is returned.

getDisplayVariant

public String getDisplayVariant(Locale locale)

Returns the full variant name in the specified Locale for the variant code of this Locale. If there is no matching variant name, the variant code is returned.

getISO3Country

public String getISO3Country()

Returns the three-letter ISO 3166 country code which corresponds to the country code for this Locale.

Throws:

MissingResourceException - if there's no 3-letter country code for this locale.

getISO3Language

public String getISO3Language()

Returns the three-letter ISO 639-2/T language code which corresponds to the language code for this Locale.

Throws:

MissingResourceException - if there's no 3-letter language code for this locale.

getISOCountries

public static String[] getISOCountries()

Returns an array of strings containing all the two-letter ISO 3166 country codes that can be used as the country code when constructing a Locale.

getISOLanguages

public static String[] getISOLanguages()

Returns an array of strings containing all the two-letter ISO 639-1 language codes that can be used as the language code when constructing a Locale.

getLanguage

public String getLanguage()

Returns the language code for this Locale or the empty string if no language was set.

getVariant

public String getVariant()

Returns the variant code for this Locale or an empty String if no variant was set.

hashCode

public int hashCode()

Description copied from class: Object

Returns an integer hash code for this object. By contract, any two objects for which Object.equals(java.lang.Object) returns true must return the same hash code value. This means that subclasses of Object usually override both methods or neither method.

Note that hash values must not change over time unless information used in equals comparisons also changes.

See Writing a correct hashCode method if you intend implementing your own hashCode method.

Overrides:

hashCode in class Object

Returns:

this object's hash code.

See Also:

Object.equals(java.lang.Object)

setDefault

public static void setDefault(Locale locale)

Overrides the default locale. This does not affect system configuration, and attempts to override the system-provided default locale may themselves be overridden by actual changes to the system configuration. Code that calls this method is usually incorrect, and should be fixed by passing the appropriate locale to each locale-sensitive method that's called.

toString

public final String toString()

Returns the string representation of this Locale. It consists of the language code, country code and variant separated by underscores. If the language is missing the string begins with an underscore. If the country is missing there are 2 underscores between the language and the variant. The variant cannot stand alone without a language and/or country code: in this case this method would return the empty string.

Examples: "en", "en_US", "_US", "en__POSIX", "en_US_POSIX"

Overrides:

toString in class Object

Returns:

a printable representation of this object.