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<div class="refnamediv">
<h1 class="refname">setlocale</h1>
<p class="verinfo">(PHP 4, PHP 5)</p><p class="refpurpose"><span class="refname">setlocale</span> — <span class="dc-title">Set locale information</span></p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 description" id="refsect1-function.setlocale-description">
<h3 class="title">Description</h3>
<div class="methodsynopsis dc-description">
<span class="type">string</span> <span class="methodname"><strong>setlocale</strong></span>
( <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">int</span> <code class="parameter">$category</code></span>
, <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">string</span> <code class="parameter">$locale</code></span>
[, <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">string</span> <code class="parameter">$...</code></span>
] )</div>
<div class="methodsynopsis dc-description">
<span class="type">string</span> <span class="methodname"><strong>setlocale</strong></span>
( <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">int</span> <code class="parameter">$category</code></span>
, <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">array</span> <code class="parameter">$locale</code></span>
)</div>
<p class="para rdfs-comment">
Sets locale information.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 parameters" id="refsect1-function.setlocale-parameters">
<h3 class="title">Parameters</h3>
<p class="para">
<dl>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">category</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
<em><code class="parameter">category</code></em> is a named constant specifying the
category of the functions affected by the locale setting:
<ul class="itemizedlist">
<li class="listitem">
<span class="simpara">
<strong><code>LC_ALL</code></strong> for all of the below
</span>
</li>
<li class="listitem">
<span class="simpara">
<strong><code>LC_COLLATE</code></strong> for string comparison, see
<span class="function"><a href="function.strcoll.html" class="function">strcoll()</a></span>
</span>
</li>
<li class="listitem">
<span class="simpara">
<strong><code>LC_CTYPE</code></strong> for character classification and conversion, for
example <span class="function"><a href="function.strtoupper.html" class="function">strtoupper()</a></span>
</span>
</li>
<li class="listitem">
<span class="simpara">
<strong><code>LC_MONETARY</code></strong> for <span class="function"><a href="function.localeconv.html" class="function">localeconv()</a></span>
</span>
</li>
<li class="listitem">
<span class="simpara">
<strong><code>LC_NUMERIC</code></strong> for decimal separator (See also
<span class="function"><a href="function.localeconv.html" class="function">localeconv()</a></span>)
</span>
</li>
<li class="listitem">
<span class="simpara">
<strong><code>LC_TIME</code></strong> for date and time formatting with
<span class="function"><a href="function.strftime.html" class="function">strftime()</a></span>
</span>
</li>
<li class="listitem">
<span class="simpara">
<strong><code>LC_MESSAGES</code></strong> for system responses (available if PHP was compiled with
<em>libintl</em>)
</span>
</li>
</ul>
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">locale</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
If <em><code class="parameter">locale</code></em> is <strong><code>NULL</code></strong> or the empty string
<em>""</em>, the locale names will be set from the
values of environment variables with the same names as the above
categories, or from "LANG".
</p>
<p class="para">
If <em><code class="parameter">locale</code></em> is <em>"0"</em>,
the locale setting is not affected, only the current setting is returned.
</p>
<p class="para">
If <em><code class="parameter">locale</code></em> is an array or followed by additional
parameters then each array element or parameter is tried to be set as
new locale until success. This is useful if a locale is known under
different names on different systems or for providing a fallback
for a possibly not available locale.
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">...</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
(Optional string or array parameters to try as locale settings until
success.)
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
</dl>
<blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>:
<p class="para">
On Windows, setlocale(LC_ALL, '') sets the locale names from the
system's regional/language settings (accessible via Control Panel).
</p>
</p></blockquote>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 returnvalues" id="refsect1-function.setlocale-returnvalues">
<h3 class="title">Return Values</h3>
<p class="para">
Returns the new current locale, or <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong> if the locale functionality is
not implemented on your platform, the specified locale does not exist or
the category name is invalid.
</p>
<p class="para">
An invalid category name also causes a warning message. Category/locale
names can be found in <a href="http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1766" class="link external">» RFC 1766</a>
and <a href="http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/IG/ert/iso639.htm" class="link external">» ISO 639</a>.
Different systems have different naming schemes for locales.
</p>
<blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>:
<p class="para">
The return value of <span class="function"><strong>setlocale()</strong></span> depends
on the system that PHP is running. It returns exactly
what the system <em>setlocale</em> function returns.
</p>
</p></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 changelog" id="refsect1-function.setlocale-changelog">
<h3 class="title">Changelog</h3>
<p class="para">
<table class="doctable informaltable">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Version</th>
<th>Description</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr>
<td>5.3.0</td>
<td>
This function now throws an <strong><code>E_DEPRECATED</code></strong> notice if a string is passed
to the <em><code class="parameter">category</code></em> parameter instead of one of the
<em>LC_*</em> constants.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>4.3.0</td>
<td>
Passing multiple locales became possible.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>4.2.0</td>
<td>
Passing <em><code class="parameter">category</code></em> as a string is now deprecated,
use the above constants instead. Passing them as a string (within
quotes) will result in a warning message.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 examples" id="refsect1-function.setlocale-examples">
<h3 class="title">Examples</h3>
<p class="para">
<div class="example" id="example-4858">
<p><strong>Example #1 <span class="function"><strong>setlocale()</strong></span> Examples</strong></p>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">/* Set locale to Dutch */<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">setlocale</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">LC_ALL</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'nl_NL'</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">/* Output: vrijdag 22 december 1978 */<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">strftime</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"%A %e %B %Y"</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">mktime</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">0</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">0</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">0</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">12</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">22</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">1978</span><span style="color: #007700">));<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">/* try different possible locale names for german as of PHP 4.3.0 */<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$loc_de </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">setlocale</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">LC_ALL</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'de_DE@euro'</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'de_DE'</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'de'</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'ge'</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br />echo </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Preferred locale for german on this system is '</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$loc_de</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
</div>
</p>
<p class="para">
<div class="example" id="example-4859">
<p><strong>Example #2 <span class="function"><strong>setlocale()</strong></span> Examples for Windows</strong></p>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">/* Set locale to Dutch */<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">setlocale</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">LC_ALL</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'nld_nld'</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">/* Output: vrijdag 22 december 1978 */<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">strftime</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"%A %d %B %Y"</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">mktime</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">0</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">0</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">0</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">12</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">22</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">1978</span><span style="color: #007700">));<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">/* try different possible locale names for german as of PHP 4.3.0 */<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$loc_de </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">setlocale</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">LC_ALL</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'de_DE@euro'</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'de_DE'</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'deu_deu'</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br />echo </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Preferred locale for german on this system is '</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$loc_de</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
</div>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 notes" id="refsect1-function.setlocale-notes">
<h3 class="title">Notes</h3>
<div class="warning"><strong class="warning">Warning</strong>
<p class="para">
The locale information is maintained per process, not per thread. If you
are running PHP on a multithreaded server API like IIS or Apache on
Windows, you may experience sudden changes in locale settings while a
script is running, though the script itself never called
<span class="function"><strong>setlocale()</strong></span>. This happens due to other scripts
running in different threads of the same process at the same time,
changing the process-wide locale using <span class="function"><strong>setlocale()</strong></span>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="tip"><strong class="tip">Tip</strong>
<p class="para">
Windows users will find useful information about
<em><code class="parameter">locale</code></em> strings at Microsoft's
<acronym title="Microsoft Developer Network">MSDN</acronym> website. Supported language strings can be found
in the
<a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/39cwe7zf%28v=vs.90%29.aspx" class="link external">» language strings documentation</a>
and supported country/region strings in the
<a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cdax410z%28v=vs.90%29.aspx" class="link external">» country/region strings documentation</a>.
</p>
</div>
</div>
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