Locale settings - Revision history

Haars0011: Phase 1 § 5 P1.5.4: style polish — drop leading = title =, convert indented-code to syntaxhighlight, remove first-person example, add sections + See also (via update-page on MediaWiki MCP Server)

2026-06-16T13:45:24Z

Phase 1 § 5 P1.5.4: style polish — drop leading = title =, convert indented-code to syntaxhighlight, remove first-person example, add sections + See also (via update-page on MediaWiki MCP Server)

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:45, 16 June 2026
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	~~= How to change~~ language ~~settings =~~		Locale settings control how Linux presents language-dependent things: the language of prompts and error messages, how dates, numbers and currency are formatted, and how "special" characters are handled.

	~~Language settings are~~ used ~~within Linux to decide things like~~ the ~~language~~ of ~~prompts~~, ~~date and monetary~~ settings, and ~~how to handle "special" characters~~.		Because Anunna is used by people with many different backgrounds, the cluster sets no default locale — the operating system's own defaults apply, so everything works out of the box. If you want different behaviour, set your preferred locale yourself. Put the settings in your <code>~/.bashrc</code>, and also inside any job scripts, since scripts do not normally read your <code>~/.bashrc</code>.

	As the ~~HPC is used by people with very diverse backgrounds, we do not set a default setting for this.~~		== Seeing the current settings ==
	~~Of course, the OS still has defaults, so everything still works.~~

	~~If you want to change~~ the ~~default,~~ the ~~best way is to add your preferred setting to your .bashrc, and also to run scripts, as they usually don't load your .bashrc .~~		To list the locale categories and the value each currently uses:

	~~To see the available categories and the language they use, use this:~~		<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
	locale		locale
	~~To see the available language options, use this:~~		</syntaxhighlight>
	~~locale -a~~
	~~As you saw, there are two main categories, '''LANG''' and '''LC_*'''.~~
	~~If you want to change them, you will have to change them separately, like this:~~
	~~export LANG=nl_NL.utf8~~
	~~export LC_ALL=nl_NL.utf8~~

	~~After the above, you will have error messages in Dutch, and the currency symbol will be~~ the ~~Euro sign.~~		To list the locales available on the system:
	~~To see what~~ the ~~active settings are for a certain category, you can (e.g. MONETARY) do this~~:
	~~locale -k LC_MONETARY~~

	~~If you want to mix and match locales (use en_IE.utf8 for MONETARY and NUMERIC, and the rest is en_DK.utf8), do this:~~		<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
	~~# Unset (clear) LC_ALL, as that overrides the changes~~		locale -a
	~~unset LC_ALL~~		</syntaxhighlight>
	~~# Set everything to English with Danish settings (correct dates)~~
	~~for item in $(~~locale ~~\| grep LC \| grep~~ -~~v LC_ALL \| cut -f1 -d'='); do export ${item}=en_DK.UTF-8;done~~
	~~# Now we can set NUMERIC and MONETARY to en_IE.utf8 so we get~~ a ~~dot as the decimal separator~~
	~~export LC_NUMERIC=en_IE.utf8~~
	~~export LC_MONETARY=en_IE.utf8~~

	My locale (~~haars001~~) ~~looks~~ like ~~this~~:		To see the detailed keywords of one category (for example monetary formatting):
	LANG=en_IE.UTF-8
	LANGUAGE=		<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
	LC_CTYPE=en_DK.UTF-8		locale -k LC_MONETARY
	LC_NUMERIC=en_IE.UTF-8		</syntaxhighlight>
	LC_TIME=en_DK.UTF-8
	LC_COLLATE=en_DK.UTF-8		There are two kinds of setting: <code>LANG</code>, the overall default, and the individual <code>LC_*</code> category variables (such as <code>LC_NUMERIC</code> or <code>LC_TIME</code>) that override <code>LANG</code> for one category each.
	LC_MONETARY=en_IE.UTF-8
	LC_MESSAGES=en_DK.UTF-8		== Changing your locale ==
	LC_PAPER=en_DK.UTF-8
	LC_NAME=nl_NL.utf8		Set <code>LANG</code> (and optionally <code>LC_ALL</code>, which forces every category at once):
	LC_ADDRESS=nl_NL.utf8
	LC_TELEPHONE=nl_NL.utf8		<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
	LC_MEASUREMENT=en_DK.UTF-8		export LANG=nl_NL.utf8
	LC_IDENTIFICATION=en_DK.UTF-8		export LC_ALL=nl_NL.utf8
	LC_ALL=		</syntaxhighlight>

			After this you would get error messages in Dutch and the euro sign as the currency symbol.

			Note that <code>LC_ALL</code> overrides everything else, so leave it unset if you want to mix categories (see below).

			== Mixing categories ==

			A common wish is to mix locales — for example English-language messages but Danish date and number formatting (which gives unambiguous <code>YYYY-MM-DD</code> dates), with an Irish locale for the decimal separator so numbers use a dot. Because <code>LC_ALL</code> overrides individual categories, first clear it, set a base for all categories, then override the few you want:

			<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
			# LC_ALL overrides per-category settings, so clear it first
			unset LC_ALL

			# Set every category to English with Danish conventions (e.g. correct dates)
			for item in $(locale \| grep LC \| grep -v LC_ALL \| cut -f1 -d'='); do
			export ${item}=en_DK.UTF-8
			done

			# Override numeric and monetary formatting to get a dot as the decimal separator
			export LC_NUMERIC=en_IE.utf8
			export LC_MONETARY=en_IE.utf8
			</syntaxhighlight>

			With that in place, <code>locale</code> reports a mixed setup like:

			<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
			LANG=en_IE.UTF-8
			LANGUAGE=
			LC_CTYPE=en_DK.UTF-8
			LC_NUMERIC=en_IE.UTF-8
			LC_TIME=en_DK.UTF-8
			LC_COLLATE=en_DK.UTF-8
			LC_MONETARY=en_IE.UTF-8
			LC_MESSAGES=en_DK.UTF-8
			LC_PAPER=en_DK.UTF-8
			LC_NAME=nl_NL.utf8
			LC_ADDRESS=nl_NL.utf8
			LC_TELEPHONE=nl_NL.utf8
			LC_MEASUREMENT=en_DK.UTF-8
			LC_IDENTIFICATION=en_DK.UTF-8
			LC_ALL=
			</syntaxhighlight>

			== See also ==

			* [[Installing Personal Software]]

Haars0011 at 08:08, 1 April 2025

2025-04-01T08:08:45Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:08, 1 April 2025
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	export LC_MONETARY=en_IE.utf8		export LC_MONETARY=en_IE.utf8

	My locale looks like this:		My locale (haars001) looks like this:
	LANG=en_IE.UTF-8		LANG=en_IE.UTF-8
	LANGUAGE=		LANGUAGE=

Haars0011 at 08:08, 1 April 2025

2025-04-01T08:08:20Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:08, 1 April 2025
Line 29:		Line 29:
	export LC_NUMERIC=en_IE.utf8		export LC_NUMERIC=en_IE.utf8
	export LC_MONETARY=en_IE.utf8		export LC_MONETARY=en_IE.utf8

			My locale looks like this:
			LANG=en_IE.UTF-8
			LANGUAGE=
			LC_CTYPE=en_DK.UTF-8
			LC_NUMERIC=en_IE.UTF-8
			LC_TIME=en_DK.UTF-8
			LC_COLLATE=en_DK.UTF-8
			LC_MONETARY=en_IE.UTF-8
			LC_MESSAGES=en_DK.UTF-8
			LC_PAPER=en_DK.UTF-8
			LC_NAME=nl_NL.utf8
			LC_ADDRESS=nl_NL.utf8
			LC_TELEPHONE=nl_NL.utf8
			LC_MEASUREMENT=en_DK.UTF-8
			LC_IDENTIFICATION=en_DK.UTF-8
			LC_ALL=

Haars0011 at 07:58, 1 April 2025

2025-04-01T07:58:45Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:58, 1 April 2025
Line 22:		Line 22:

	If you want to mix and match locales (use en_IE.utf8 for MONETARY and NUMERIC, and the rest is en_DK.utf8), do this:		If you want to mix and match locales (use en_IE.utf8 for MONETARY and NUMERIC, and the rest is en_DK.utf8), do this:
	~~# Set everything to English with Danish settings~~		# Unset (clear) LC_ALL, as that overrides the changes
	~~export LC_ALL=en_DK.utf8~~
	# Unset (clear) LC_ALL, as that overrides the ~~rest~~
	unset LC_ALL		unset LC_ALL
			# Set everything to English with Danish settings (correct dates)
			for item in $(locale \| grep LC \| grep -v LC_ALL \| cut -f1 -d'='); do export ${item}=en_DK.UTF-8;done
	# Now we can set NUMERIC and MONETARY to en_IE.utf8 so we get a dot as the decimal separator		# Now we can set NUMERIC and MONETARY to en_IE.utf8 so we get a dot as the decimal separator
	export LC_NUMERIC=en_IE.utf8		export LC_NUMERIC=en_IE.utf8
	export LC_MONETARY=en_IE.utf8		export LC_MONETARY=en_IE.utf8

Haars0011: Undo revision 2474 by Haars0011 (talk)

2025-04-01T07:57:43Z

Undo revision 2474 by Haars0011 (talk)

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:57, 1 April 2025
Line 20:		Line 20:
	To see what the active settings are for a certain category, you can (e.g. MONETARY) do this:		To see what the active settings are for a certain category, you can (e.g. MONETARY) do this:
	locale -k LC_MONETARY		locale -k LC_MONETARY

			If you want to mix and match locales (use en_IE.utf8 for MONETARY and NUMERIC, and the rest is en_DK.utf8), do this:
			# Set everything to English with Danish settings
			export LC_ALL=en_DK.utf8
			# Unset (clear) LC_ALL, as that overrides the rest
			unset LC_ALL
			# Now we can set NUMERIC and MONETARY to en_IE.utf8 so we get a dot as the decimal separator
			export LC_NUMERIC=en_IE.utf8
			export LC_MONETARY=en_IE.utf8

Haars0011 at 07:23, 1 April 2025

2025-04-01T07:23:20Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:23, 1 April 2025
Line 20:		Line 20:
	To see what the active settings are for a certain category, you can (e.g. MONETARY) do this:		To see what the active settings are for a certain category, you can (e.g. MONETARY) do this:
	locale -k LC_MONETARY		locale -k LC_MONETARY

	~~If you want to mix and match locales (use en_IE.utf8 for MONETARY and NUMERIC, and the rest is en_DK.utf8), do this:~~
	~~# Set everything to English with Danish settings~~
	~~export LC_ALL=en_DK.utf8~~
	~~# Unset (clear) LC_ALL, as that overrides the rest~~
	~~unset LC_ALL~~
	~~# Now we can set NUMERIC and MONETARY to en_IE.utf8 so we get a dot as the decimal separator~~
	~~export LC_NUMERIC=en_IE.utf8~~
	~~export LC_MONETARY=en_IE.utf8~~

Haars0011 at 07:22, 1 April 2025

2025-04-01T07:22:50Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:22, 1 April 2025
Line 21:		Line 21:
	locale -k LC_MONETARY		locale -k LC_MONETARY

	If you want to mix and match locales (use en_IE.utf8 for MONETARY, and the rest is ~~nl_NL~~.utf8), do this:		If you want to mix and match locales (use en_IE.utf8 for MONETARY and NUMERIC, and the rest is en_DK.utf8), do this:
	# Set everything to ~~Dutch~~		# Set everything to English with Danish settings
	export LC_ALL=~~nl_NL~~.utf8		export LC_ALL=en_DK.utf8
	# Unset (clear) LC_ALL, as that overrides the rest		# Unset (clear) LC_ALL, as that overrides the rest
	unset LC_ALL		unset LC_ALL
	# Now we can set MONETARY to en_IE.utf8 so we get a dot as the decimal separator		# Now we can set NUMERIC and MONETARY to en_IE.utf8 so we get a dot as the decimal separator
			export LC_NUMERIC=en_IE.utf8
	export LC_MONETARY=en_IE.utf8		export LC_MONETARY=en_IE.utf8

Haars0011 at 07:17, 1 April 2025

2025-04-01T07:17:36Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:17, 1 April 2025
Line 20:		Line 20:
	To see what the active settings are for a certain category, you can (e.g. MONETARY) do this:		To see what the active settings are for a certain category, you can (e.g. MONETARY) do this:
	locale -k LC_MONETARY		locale -k LC_MONETARY

			If you want to mix and match locales (use en_IE.utf8 for MONETARY, and the rest is nl_NL.utf8), do this:
			# Set everything to Dutch
			export LC_ALL=nl_NL.utf8
			# Unset (clear) LC_ALL, as that overrides the rest
			unset LC_ALL
			# Now we can set MONETARY to en_IE.utf8 so we get a dot as the decimal separator
			export LC_MONETARY=en_IE.utf8

Haars0011: Created page with "= How to change language settings = Language settings are used within Linux to decide things like the language of prompts, date and monetary settings, and how to handle "special" characters. As the HPC is used by people with very diverse backgrounds, we do not set a default setting for this. Of course, the OS still has defaults, so everything still works. If you want to change the default, the best way is to add your preferred setting to your .bashrc, and also to run..."

2025-04-01T07:05:52Z

Created page with "= How to change language settings = Language settings are used within Linux to decide things like the language of prompts, date and monetary settings, and how to handle "special" characters. As the HPC is used by people with very diverse backgrounds, we do not set a default setting for this. Of course, the OS still has defaults, so everything still works. If you want to change the default, the best way is to add your preferred setting to your .bashrc, and also to run..."

New page

= How to change language settings =

Language settings are used within Linux to decide things like the language of prompts, date and monetary settings, and how to handle "special" characters.

As the HPC is used by people with very diverse backgrounds, we do not set a default setting for this.
Of course, the OS still has defaults, so everything still works.

If you want to change the default, the best way is to add your preferred setting to your .bashrc, and also to run scripts, as they usually don't load your .bashrc .

To see the available categories and the language they use, use this:
locale
To see the available language options, use this:
locale -a
As you saw, there are two main categories, '''LANG''' and '''LC_*'''.
If you want to change them, you will have to change them separately, like this:
export LANG=nl_NL.utf8
export LC_ALL=nl_NL.utf8

After the above, you will have error messages in Dutch, and the currency symbol will be the Euro sign.
To see what the active settings are for a certain category, you can (e.g. MONETARY) do this:
locale -k LC_MONETARY