Different cultures often use different conventions to format numbers, to write the date and time, to delimit words and phrases, or to quote written and spoken material. A locale determines the way in which the following operations, files, formats, and expressions are handled for different regions:
Encoding and processing of text data
Language identification and encoding of resource files
Rendering and layout of text strings
Interchange of text between clients
Input method selection to meet the codeset and text processing requirements of the chosen script
Fonts and icon files that are culturally specific
User Interface Definition (UID) files
Date and time formats
Numeric formats
Monetary formats
Collation order
Regular expression handling
Format for informative and diagnostic messages and interactive responses
The Oracle Solaris environment separates language and culture-dependent information from the application and saves the information outside the application. This method eliminates the need to translate, rewrite, or recompile the application for each market. The only requirement to enter a new market is to localize the external information to the local language and customs.
The following sections describe the differences that exist for locale categories and other differences between languages.