Class Locale

public static final Locale CANADA

Locale which represents the English speaking portion of Canada.

public static final Locale CANADA_FRENCH

Locale which represents the French speaking portion of Canada.

public static final Locale CHINA

Locale which represents China. Same as SIMPLIFIED_CHINESE Locale.

public static final Locale CHINESE

Locale which represents the Chinese language.

public static final Locale ENGLISH

Locale which represents the English language.

public static final Locale FRANCE

Locale which represents France.

public static final Locale FRENCH

Locale which represents the French language.

public static final Locale GERMAN

Locale which represents the German language.

public static final Locale GERMANY

Locale which represents Germany.

public static final Locale ITALIAN

Locale which represents the Italian language.

public static final Locale ITALY

Locale which represents Italy.

public static final Locale JAPAN

Locale which represents Japan.

public static final Locale JAPANESE

Locale which represents the Japanese language.

public static final Locale KOREA

Locale which represents Korea.

public static final Locale KOREAN

Locale which represents the Korean language.

public static final Locale PRC

Locale which represents the People's Republic of China. Same as CHINA Locale.

public static final Locale ROOT

The root locale, used as the base case in lookups by locale-sensitive operations.

public static final Locale SIMPLIFIED_CHINESE

Locale which represents the Chinese language as used in China.

public static final Locale TAIWAN

Locale which represents Taiwan. Same as TRADITIONAL_CHINESE Locale.

public static final Locale TRADITIONAL_CHINESE

Locale which represents the Chinese language as used in Taiwan. Same as TAIWAN Locale.

public static final Locale UK

Locale which represents the United Kingdom.

public static final Locale US

Locale which represents the United States.

public Locale(String language)

Creates a new locale for a language.

Parameters:

language - lowercase two-letter ISO-639 A2 language code

Throws:

NullPointerException - if either argument is null

Since:

1.4

public Locale(String language,
              String country)

Creates a new locale for the given language and country.

Parameters:

language - lowercase two-letter ISO-639 A2 language code

country - uppercase two-letter ISO-3166 A2 country code

Throws:

NullPointerException - if either argument is null

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

Creates a new locale for the given language and country.

Parameters:

language - lowercase two-letter ISO-639 A2 language code

country - uppercase two-letter ISO-3166 A2 contry code

variant - vendor and browser specific

Throws:

NullPointerException - if any argument is null

public Object clone()

Does the same as Object.clone() but does not throw a CloneNotSupportedException. Why anyone would use this method is a secret to me, since this class is immutable.

Overrides:

clone in interface Object

Returns:

the clone

public boolean equals(Object obj)

Compares two locales. To be equal, obj must be a Locale with the same language, country, and variant code.

Overrides:

equals in interface Object

Parameters:

obj - the other locale

Returns:

true if obj is equal to this

public static Locale[] getAvailableLocales()

Returns the list of available locales.

Returns:

the installed locales

public String getCountry()

Returns the country code of this locale.

Returns:

country code portion of this locale, or an empty String

public static Locale getDefault()

Returns the default Locale. The default locale is generally once set on start up and then never changed. Normally you should use this locale for everywhere you need a locale. The initial setting matches the default locale, the user has chosen.

Returns:

the default locale for this virtual machine

public String getDisplayCountry()

Returns the country name of this locale localized to the default locale. If the localized is not found, the ISO code is returned. This has the same effect as

 getDisplayCountry(Locale.getDefault());
 

Returns:

the country name of this locale localized to the given locale, with the ISO code as backup

public String getDisplayCountry(Locale inLocale)

Gets the name of the country specified by this locale, in a form suitable for display to the user. If possible, the display name will be localized to the specified locale. For example, if the locale instance is Locale.GERMANY, and the specified locale is Locale.UK, the result would be 'Germany'. Using the German locale would instead give 'Deutschland'. If the display name can not be localized to the supplied locale, it will fall back on other output in the following order:

• the display name in the default locale
• the display name in English
• the ISO code

If the country is unspecified by this locale, then the empty string is returned.

Parameters:

inLocale - the locale to use for formatting the display string.

Returns:

the country name of this locale localized to the given locale, with the default locale, English and the ISO code as backups.

Throws:

NullPointerException - if the supplied locale is null.

public String getDisplayLanguage()

Gets the country name suitable for display to the user, formatted for the default locale. This has the same effect as

 getDisplayLanguage(Locale.getDefault());
 

Returns:

the language name of this locale localized to the default locale, with the ISO code as backup

public String getDisplayLanguage(Locale inLocale)

Gets the name of the language specified by this locale, in a form suitable for display to the user. If possible, the display name will be localized to the specified locale. For example, if the locale instance is Locale.GERMANY, and the specified locale is Locale.UK, the result would be 'German'. Using the German locale would instead give 'Deutsch'. If the display name can not be localized to the supplied locale, it will fall back on other output in the following order:

• the display name in the default locale
• the display name in English
• the ISO code

If the language is unspecified by this locale, then the empty string is returned.

Parameters:

inLocale - the locale to use for formatting the display string.

Returns:

the language name of this locale localized to the given locale, with the default locale, English and the ISO code as backups.

Throws:

NullPointerException - if the supplied locale is null.

public String getDisplayName()

Gets all local components suitable for display to the user, formatted for the default locale. For the language component, getDisplayLanguage is called. For the country component, getDisplayCountry is called. For the variant set component, getDisplayVariant is called.

The returned String will be one of the following forms:

 language (country, variant)
 language (country)
 language (variant)
 country (variant)
 language
 country
 variant
 

Returns:

String version of this locale, suitable for display to the user

public String getDisplayName(Locale locale)

Gets all local components suitable for display to the user, formatted for a specified locale. For the language component, getDisplayLanguage(Locale) is called. For the country component, getDisplayCountry(Locale) is called. For the variant set component, getDisplayVariant(Locale) is called.

The returned String will be one of the following forms:

 language (country, variant)
 language (country)
 language (variant)
 country (variant)
 language
 country
 variant
 

Parameters:

locale - locale to use for formatting

Returns:

String version of this locale, suitable for display to the user

public String getDisplayVariant()

Returns the variant name of this locale localized to the default locale. If the localized is not found, the variant code itself is returned. This has the same effect as

 getDisplayVariant(Locale.getDefault());
 

Returns:

the variant code of this locale localized to the given locale, with the ISO code as backup

public String getDisplayVariant(Locale inLocale)

Gets the name of the variant specified by this locale, in a form suitable for display to the user. If possible, the display name will be localized to the specified locale. For example, if the locale instance is a revised variant, and the specified locale is Locale.UK, the result would be 'REVISED'. Using the German locale would instead give 'Revidiert'. If the display name can not be localized to the supplied locale, it will fall back on other output in the following order:

• the display name in the default locale
• the display name in English
• the ISO code

If the variant is unspecified by this locale, then the empty string is returned.

Parameters:

inLocale - the locale to use for formatting the display string.

Returns:

the variant name of this locale localized to the given locale, with the default locale, English and the ISO code as backups.

Throws:

NullPointerException - if the supplied locale is null.

public String getISO3Country()

Returns the three-letter ISO country abbrevation of the locale.

Throws:

MissingResourceException - if the three-letter code is not known

public String getISO3Language()

Returns the three-letter ISO language abbrevation of this locale.

Throws:

MissingResourceException - if the three-letter code is not known

public static String[] getISOCountries()

Returns a list of all 2-letter uppercase country codes as defined in ISO 3166.

Returns:

a list of acceptable country codes

public static String[] getISOLanguages()

Returns a list of all 2-letter lowercase language codes as defined in ISO 639 (both old and new variant).

Returns:

a list of acceptable language codes

public String getLanguage()

Returns the language code of this locale. Some language codes have changed as ISO 639 has evolved; this returns the old name, even if you built the locale with the new one.

Returns:

language code portion of this locale, or an empty String

public String getVariant()

Returns the variant code of this locale.

Returns:

the variant code portion of this locale, or an empty String

public int hashCode()

Return the hash code for this locale. The hashcode is the logical xor of the hash codes of the language, the country and the variant. The hash code is precomputed, since Locales are often used in hash tables.

Overrides:

hashCode in interface Object

Returns:

the hashcode

public static void setDefault(Locale newLocale)

Changes the default locale. Normally only called on program start up. Note that this doesn't change the locale for other programs. This has a security check, PropertyPermission("user.language", "write"), because of its potential impact to running code.

Parameters:

newLocale - the new default locale

Throws:

NullPointerException - if newLocale is null

SecurityException - if permission is denied

public String toString()

Gets the string representation of the current locale. This consists of the language, the country, and the variant, separated by an underscore. The variant is listed only if there is a language or country. Examples: "en", "de_DE", "_GB", "en_US_WIN", "de__POSIX", "fr__MAC".

Overrides:

toString in interface Object

Returns:

the string representation of this Locale

See Also:

getDisplayName()