Please note:

The documentation here is generated live, in a way that is neither comprehensive nor 100% correct. We strongly recommend using the HTML documentation included with the source tarballs instead.

babel.core

Core locale representation and locale data access.

get_global(key)

Return the dictionary for the given key in the global data.

The global data is stored in the babel/global.dat file and contains information independent of individual locales.

>>> get_global('zone_aliases')['UTC']
'Etc/GMT'
>>> get_global('zone_territories')['Europe/Berlin']
'DE'

param key:	the data key
return:	the dictionary found in the global data under the given key
rtype:	dict
since:	version 0.9

UnknownLocaleError

Exception thrown when a locale is requested for which no locale data is available.

Locale

Representation of a specific locale.

>>> locale = Locale('en', 'US')
>>> repr(locale)
"Locale('en', territory='US')"
>>> locale.display_name
u'English (United States)'

A Locale object can also be instantiated from a raw locale string:

>>> locale = Locale.parse('en-US', sep='-')
>>> repr(locale)
"Locale('en', territory='US')"

Locale objects provide access to a collection of locale data, such as territory and language names, number and date format patterns, and more:

>>> locale.number_symbols['decimal']
u'.'

If a locale is requested for which no locale data is available, an UnknownLocaleError is raised:

>>> Locale.parse('en_DE')
Traceback (most recent call last):
    ...
UnknownLocaleError: unknown locale 'en_DE'

see:	IETF RFC 3066

default(cls, category=None, aliases=LOCALE_ALIASES)

Return the system default locale for the specified category.

>>> for name in ['LANGUAGE', 'LC_ALL', 'LC_CTYPE']:
...     os.environ[name] = ''
>>> os.environ['LANG'] = 'fr_FR.UTF-8'
>>> Locale.default('LC_MESSAGES')
Locale('fr', territory='FR')

param category:	one of the LC_XXX environment variable names
param aliases:	a dictionary of aliases for locale identifiers
return:	the value of the variable, or any of the fallbacks (LANGUAGE, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG)
rtype:	Locale
see:	default_locale

negotiate(cls, preferred, available, sep='_', aliases=LOCALE_ALIASES)

Find the best match between available and requested locale strings.

>>> Locale.negotiate(['de_DE', 'en_US'], ['de_DE', 'de_AT'])
Locale('de', territory='DE')
>>> Locale.negotiate(['de_DE', 'en_US'], ['en', 'de'])
Locale('de')
>>> Locale.negotiate(['de_DE', 'de'], ['en_US'])

You can specify the character used in the locale identifiers to separate the differnet components. This separator is applied to both lists. Also, case is ignored in the comparison:

>>> Locale.negotiate(['de-DE', 'de'], ['en-us', 'de-de'], sep='-')
Locale('de', territory='DE')

param preferred:
	the list of locale identifers preferred by the user
param available:
	the list of locale identifiers available
param aliases:	a dictionary of aliases for locale identifiers
return:	the Locale object for the best match, or None if no match was found
rtype:	Locale
see:	negotiate_locale

parse(cls, identifier, sep='_')

Create a Locale instance for the given locale identifier.

>>> l = Locale.parse('de-DE', sep='-')
>>> l.display_name
u'Deutsch (Deutschland)'

If the identifier parameter is not a string, but actually a Locale object, that object is returned:

>>> Locale.parse(l)
Locale('de', territory='DE')

param identifier:
	the locale identifier string
param sep:	optional component separator
return:	a corresponding Locale instance
rtype:	Locale
raise ValueError:
	if the string does not appear to be a valid locale identifier
raise UnknownLocaleError:
	if no locale data is available for the requested locale
see:	parse_locale

get_display_name(self, locale=None)

Return the display name of the locale using the given locale.

The display name will include the language, territory, script, and variant, if those are specified.

>>> Locale('zh', 'CN', script='Hans').get_display_name('en')
u'Chinese (Simplified Han, China)'

param locale:	the locale to use
return:	the display name

english_name(self)

The english display name of the locale.

>>> Locale('de').english_name
u'German'
>>> Locale('de', 'DE').english_name
u'German (Germany)'

type:	unicode

languages(self)

Mapping of language codes to translated language names.

>>> Locale('de', 'DE').languages['ja']
u'Japanisch'

type:	dict
see:	ISO 639

scripts(self)

Mapping of script codes to translated script names.

>>> Locale('en', 'US').scripts['Hira']
u'Hiragana'

type:	dict
see:	ISO 15924

territories(self)

Mapping of script codes to translated script names.

>>> Locale('es', 'CO').territories['DE']
u'Alemania'

type:	dict
see:	ISO 3166

variants(self)

Mapping of script codes to translated script names.

>>> Locale('de', 'DE').variants['1901']
u'Alte deutsche Rechtschreibung'

type:	dict

currencies(self)

Mapping of currency codes to translated currency names.

>>> Locale('en').currencies['COP']
u'Colombian Peso'
>>> Locale('de', 'DE').currencies['COP']
u'Kolumbianischer Peso'

type:	dict

currency_symbols(self)

Mapping of currency codes to symbols.

>>> Locale('en', 'US').currency_symbols['USD']
u'$'
>>> Locale('es', 'CO').currency_symbols['USD']
u'US$'

type:	dict

number_symbols(self)

Symbols used in number formatting.

>>> Locale('fr', 'FR').number_symbols['decimal']
u','

type:	dict

decimal_formats(self)

Locale patterns for decimal number formatting.

>>> Locale('en', 'US').decimal_formats[None]
<NumberPattern u'#,##0.###'>

type:	dict

currency_formats(self)

Locale patterns for currency number formatting.

>>> print Locale('en', 'US').currency_formats[None]
<NumberPattern u'\xa4#,##0.00'>

type:	dict

percent_formats(self)

Locale patterns for percent number formatting.

>>> Locale('en', 'US').percent_formats[None]
<NumberPattern u'#,##0%'>

type:	dict

scientific_formats(self)

Locale patterns for scientific number formatting.

>>> Locale('en', 'US').scientific_formats[None]
<NumberPattern u'#E0'>

type:	dict

periods(self)

Locale display names for day periods (AM/PM).

>>> Locale('en', 'US').periods['am']
u'AM'

type:	dict

days(self)

Locale display names for weekdays.

>>> Locale('de', 'DE').days['format']['wide'][3]
u'Donnerstag'

type:	dict

months(self)

Locale display names for months.

>>> Locale('de', 'DE').months['format']['wide'][10]
u'Oktober'

type:	dict

quarters(self)

Locale display names for quarters.

>>> Locale('de', 'DE').quarters['format']['wide'][1]
u'1. Quartal'

type:	dict

eras(self)

Locale display names for eras.

>>> Locale('en', 'US').eras['wide'][1]
u'Anno Domini'
>>> Locale('en', 'US').eras['abbreviated'][0]
u'BC'

type:	dict

time_zones(self)

Locale display names for time zones.

>>> Locale('en', 'US').time_zones['Europe/London']['long']['daylight']
u'British Summer Time'
>>> Locale('en', 'US').time_zones['America/St_Johns']['city']
u"St. John's"

type:	dict

meta_zones(self)

Locale display names for meta time zones.

Meta time zones are basically groups of different Olson time zones that have the same GMT offset and daylight savings time.

>>> Locale('en', 'US').meta_zones['Europe_Central']['long']['daylight']
u'Central European Summer Time'

type:	dict
since:	version 0.9

zone_formats(self)

Patterns related to the formatting of time zones.

>>> Locale('en', 'US').zone_formats['fallback']
u'%(1)s (%(0)s)'
>>> Locale('pt', 'BR').zone_formats['region']
u'Hor\xe1rio %s'

type:	dict
since:	version 0.9

first_week_day(self)

The first day of a week, with 0 being Monday.

>>> Locale('de', 'DE').first_week_day
0
>>> Locale('en', 'US').first_week_day
6

type:	int

weekend_start(self)

The day the weekend starts, with 0 being Monday.

>>> Locale('de', 'DE').weekend_start
5

type:	int

weekend_end(self)

The day the weekend ends, with 0 being Monday.

>>> Locale('de', 'DE').weekend_end
6

type:	int

min_week_days(self)

The minimum number of days in a week so that the week is counted as the first week of a year or month.

>>> Locale('de', 'DE').min_week_days
4

type:	int

date_formats(self)

Locale patterns for date formatting.

>>> Locale('en', 'US').date_formats['short']
<DateTimePattern u'M/d/yy'>
>>> Locale('fr', 'FR').date_formats['long']
<DateTimePattern u'd MMMM y'>

type:	dict

time_formats(self)

Locale patterns for time formatting.

>>> Locale('en', 'US').time_formats['short']
<DateTimePattern u'h:mm a'>
>>> Locale('fr', 'FR').time_formats['long']
<DateTimePattern u'HH:mm:ss z'>

type:	dict

datetime_formats(self)

Locale patterns for datetime formatting.

>>> Locale('en').datetime_formats['full']
u'{1} {0}'
>>> Locale('th').datetime_formats['medium']
u'{1}, {0}'

type:	dict

plural_form(self)

Plural rules for the locale.

>>> Locale('en').plural_form(1)
'one'
>>> Locale('en').plural_form(0)
'other'
>>> Locale('fr').plural_form(0)
'one'
>>> Locale('ru').plural_form(100)
'many'

type:	PluralRule

default_locale(category=None, aliases=LOCALE_ALIASES)

Returns the system default locale for a given category, based on environment variables.

>>> for name in ['LANGUAGE', 'LC_ALL', 'LC_CTYPE']:
...     os.environ[name] = ''
>>> os.environ['LANG'] = 'fr_FR.UTF-8'
>>> default_locale('LC_MESSAGES')
'fr_FR'

The "C" or "POSIX" pseudo-locales are treated as aliases for the "en_US_POSIX" locale:

>>> os.environ['LC_MESSAGES'] = 'POSIX'
>>> default_locale('LC_MESSAGES')
'en_US_POSIX'

param category:	one of the LC_XXX environment variable names
param aliases:	a dictionary of aliases for locale identifiers
return:	the value of the variable, or any of the fallbacks (LANGUAGE, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG)
rtype:	str

negotiate_locale(preferred, available, sep='_', aliases=LOCALE_ALIASES)

Find the best match between available and requested locale strings.

>>> negotiate_locale(['de_DE', 'en_US'], ['de_DE', 'de_AT'])
'de_DE'
>>> negotiate_locale(['de_DE', 'en_US'], ['en', 'de'])
'de'

Case is ignored by the algorithm, the result uses the case of the preferred locale identifier:

>>> negotiate_locale(['de_DE', 'en_US'], ['de_de', 'de_at'])
'de_DE'

>>> negotiate_locale(['de_DE', 'en_US'], ['de_de', 'de_at'])
'de_DE'

By default, some web browsers unfortunately do not include the territory in the locale identifier for many locales, and some don't even allow the user to easily add the territory. So while you may prefer using qualified locale identifiers in your web-application, they would not normally match the language-only locale sent by such browsers. To workaround that, this function uses a default mapping of commonly used langauge-only locale identifiers to identifiers including the territory:

>>> negotiate_locale(['ja', 'en_US'], ['ja_JP', 'en_US'])
'ja_JP'

Some browsers even use an incorrect or outdated language code, such as "no" for Norwegian, where the correct locale identifier would actually be "nb_NO" (Bokmål) or "nn_NO" (Nynorsk). The aliases are intended to take care of such cases, too:

>>> negotiate_locale(['no', 'sv'], ['nb_NO', 'sv_SE'])
'nb_NO'

You can override this default mapping by passing a different aliases dictionary to this function, or you can bypass the behavior althogher by setting the aliases parameter to None.

param preferred:
	the list of locale strings preferred by the user
param available:
	the list of locale strings available
param sep:	character that separates the different parts of the locale strings
param aliases:	a dictionary of aliases for locale identifiers
return:	the locale identifier for the best match, or None if no match was found
rtype:	str

parse_locale(identifier, sep='_')

Parse a locale identifier into a tuple of the form:

``(language, territory, script, variant)``

>>> parse_locale('zh_CN')
('zh', 'CN', None, None)
>>> parse_locale('zh_Hans_CN')
('zh', 'CN', 'Hans', None)

The default component separator is "_", but a different separator can be specified using the sep parameter:

>>> parse_locale('zh-CN', sep='-')
('zh', 'CN', None, None)

If the identifier cannot be parsed into a locale, a ValueError exception is raised:

>>> parse_locale('not_a_LOCALE_String')
Traceback (most recent call last):
  ...
ValueError: 'not_a_LOCALE_String' is not a valid locale identifier

Encoding information and locale modifiers are removed from the identifier:

>>> parse_locale('it_IT@euro')
('it', 'IT', None, None)
>>> parse_locale('en_US.UTF-8')
('en', 'US', None, None)
>>> parse_locale('de_DE.iso885915@euro')
('de', 'DE', None, None)

param identifier:
	the locale identifier string
param sep:	character that separates the different components of the locale identifier
return:	the (language, territory, script, variant) tuple
rtype:	tuple
raise ValueError:
	if the string does not appear to be a valid locale identifier
see:	IETF RFC 4646

---

See ApiDocs, Documentation