INFORMIX
INFORMIX-GLS Programmer's Guide
Chapter 3: Data Formatting
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Locale-Specific Data Formats

 The format in which data appears within an application when it is in literal strings or character variables is called the end-user format. End-user formats are locale specific: different countries use different formats for numeric, monetary, date, and date/time data. The GLS locale file defines locale-specific formats for each of these types of data, as the following table shows.

Type of Data Locale-File Category SQL Built-in Data Types

Numeric

LC_NUMERIC

DECIMAL, INT8, INTEGER, SMALLINT, FLOAT, SMALLFLOAT

Monetary

LC_MONETARY

MONEY

Date and Time

LC_TIME

DATE, DATETIME

Tip: For more information on end-user formats, see the "Informix Guide to GLS Functionality."

The LC_NUMERIC Locale-File Category

The LC_NUMERIC locale-file category is the section within a GLS locale file that defines the locale-specific formats for strings that contain numeric data. Numeric data is considered to be all values that contain digits except monetary data. Therefore, integer, fixed-point, and floating-point numbers are all considered numeric data. Strings of numeric data are called number strings.

Tip: In the "Informix Guide to GLS Functionality," the LC_NUMERIC locale-file category is sometimes referred to as the NUMERIC locale category. This manual uses LC_NUMERIC as the category name for numeric data.
The LC_NUMERIC category of each locale file contains subcategories that define the different numeric formats for that locale. The following table lists the numeric formats and their corresponding LC_NUMERIC subcategory.

Numeric Format LC_NUMERIC Subcategory

Numeric decimal separator

decimal_point

Numeric thousands separator

thousands_sep

Numeric grouping information
(number of numeric digits to group together before inserting a thousands separator)

grouping

Numeric positive sign

num_positive_sign

Numeric negative sign

num_negative_sign

For definitions of any of these numeric formats (such as decimal separator or thousands separator), see the Informix Guide to GLS Functionality.

The LC_MONETARY Locale-File Category

The LC_MONETARY locale-file category is the section within a GLS locale file that defines the locale-specific formats for strings that contain monetary (currency) data. Monetary data is considered to be values that contain digits and that represent units of some currency. Therefore, only fixed-point numbers can be monetary data. All other types of numbers (such as integer and floating-point) are considered to be numeric data. Strings of monetary data are called money strings.

Tip: In the "Informix Guide to GLS Functionality," the LC_MONETARY locale-file category is sometimes referred to as the MONETARY locale category. This manual uses LC_MONETARY as the category name for monetary data.
The LC_MONETARY category of each locale file contains subcategories that define the different monetary formats for that locale. The following table lists the monetary formats and their corresponding LC_MONETARY subcategory.

Monetary Format LC_MONETARY Subcategory

International currency symbol
(in accordance with the ISO 4217:1987 standard)

int_curr_symbol

National (local) currency symbol

currency_symbol

Monetary decimal separator

mon_decimal_point

Monetary thousands separator

mon_thousands_sep

Monetary grouping information
(number of monetary digits to group together before inserting a thousands separator)

mon_grouping

Monetary positive sign

positive_sign

Monetary negative sign

negative_sign

Number of fractional digits (those to the right of the decimal separator) to use in the international monetary format

int_frac_digits

Number of fractional digits (those to the right of the decimal separator) to use in the national (local) monetary format

frac_digits

Whether the currency symbol precedes or follows the monetary value

p_cs_precedes, n_cs_precedes

Whether to separate the currency symbol from the monetary value with a space

p_sep_by_space, n_sep_by_space

Position of positive and negative signs in a monetary value

p_sign_posn, n_sign_posn

For definitions of any of these monetary formats (such as currency symbol, decimal separator, or thousands separator), see the Informix Guide to GLS Functionality.

Tip: The DBMONEY environment variable can also specify formats for locale-specific formats for money strings. For more information on this environment variable, see the "Informix Guide to GLS Functionality."

The LC_TIME Locale-File Category

The LC_TIME locale-file category is the section within a GLS locale file that defines the locale-specific formats for strings that contain date and time data. Such strings are called date strings (which contain only date data) or date/time strings (which contain date and time data).

Tip: In the "Informix Guide to GLS Functionality," the LC_TIME locale-file category is sometimes referred to as the TIME locale category. This manual uses LC_TIME as the category name for date and time data.
The LC_TIME category of each locale file contains subcategories that define the different date and time formats. The following table lists the available formats and their corresponding LC_TIME subcategory.

Date/Time Format LC_TIME Subcategory

Abbreviated weekday names

abday

Full weekday names

day

Abbreviated month names

abmon

Full month names

mon

Date representation

d_fmt

Time representation

t_fmt

Date/time representation

d_t_fmt

A.M. and P.M. equivalents

am_pm

Representation of date/time with A.M. and P.M. indicators

t_fmt_ampm

Era names

era

Representation of date with eras

era_d_fmt

Representation of time with eras

era_t_fmt

Representation of date/time with eras

era_d_t_fmt

Alternative digits to use in date and time strings

alt_digits

For definitions of any of these date or time formats (such as eras), see the Informix Guide to GLS Functionality.

Tip: The GL_DATE, GL_DATETIME, DBDATE, and DBTIME environment variables can also specify formats for locale-specific formats for date and time strings. For more information on these environment variables, see the "Informix Guide to GLS Functionality."



INFORMIX-GLS Programmer's Guide, version 9.1
Copyright © 1998, Informix Software, Inc. All rights reserved.