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1 | |
2 | =head1 NAME | |
3 | ||
4 | Locale::Language - ISO two letter codes for language identification (ISO 639) | |
5 | ||
6 | =head1 SYNOPSIS | |
7 | ||
8 | use Locale::Language; | |
9 | ||
10 | $lang = code2language('en'); # $lang gets 'English' | |
11 | $code = language2code('French'); # $code gets 'fr' | |
12 | ||
13 | @codes = all_language_codes(); | |
14 | @names = all_language_names(); | |
15 | ||
16 | ||
17 | =head1 DESCRIPTION | |
18 | ||
19 | The C<Locale::Language> module provides access to the ISO two-letter | |
20 | codes for identifying languages, as defined in ISO 639. You can either | |
21 | access the codes via the L<conversion routines> (described below), | |
22 | or via the two functions which return lists of all language codes or | |
23 | all language names. | |
24 | ||
25 | ||
26 | =head1 CONVERSION ROUTINES | |
27 | ||
28 | There are two conversion routines: C<code2language()> and C<language2code()>. | |
29 | ||
30 | =over 4 | |
31 | ||
32 | =item code2language() | |
33 | ||
34 | This function takes a two letter language code and returns a string | |
35 | which contains the name of the language identified. If the code is | |
36 | not a valid language code, as defined by ISO 639, then C<undef> | |
37 | will be returned. | |
38 | ||
39 | $lang = code2language($code); | |
40 | ||
41 | =item language2code() | |
42 | ||
43 | This function takes a language name and returns the corresponding | |
44 | two letter language code, if such exists. | |
45 | If the argument could not be identified as a language name, | |
46 | then C<undef> will be returned. | |
47 | ||
48 | $code = language2code('French'); | |
49 | ||
50 | The case of the language name is not important. | |
51 | See the section L<KNOWN BUGS AND LIMITATIONS> below. | |
52 | ||
53 | =back | |
54 | ||
55 | ||
56 | =head1 QUERY ROUTINES | |
57 | ||
58 | There are two function which can be used to obtain a list of all | |
59 | language codes, or all language names: | |
60 | ||
61 | =over 4 | |
62 | ||
63 | =item C<all_language_codes()> | |
64 | ||
65 | Returns a list of all two-letter language codes. | |
66 | The codes are guaranteed to be all lower-case, | |
67 | and not in any particular order. | |
68 | ||
69 | =item C<all_language_names()> | |
70 | ||
71 | Returns a list of all language names for which there is a corresponding | |
72 | two-letter language code. The names are capitalised, and not returned | |
73 | in any particular order. | |
74 | ||
75 | =back | |
76 | ||
77 | ||
78 | =head1 EXAMPLES | |
79 | ||
80 | The following example illustrates use of the C<code2language()> function. | |
81 | The user is prompted for a language code, and then told the corresponding | |
82 | language name: | |
83 | ||
84 | $| = 1; # turn off buffering | |
85 | ||
86 | print "Enter language code: "; | |
87 | chop($code = <STDIN>); | |
88 | $lang = code2language($code); | |
89 | if (defined $lang) | |
90 | { | |
91 | print "$code = $lang\n"; | |
92 | } | |
93 | else | |
94 | { | |
95 | print "'$code' is not a valid language code!\n"; | |
96 | } | |
97 | ||
98 | =head1 KNOWN BUGS AND LIMITATIONS | |
99 | ||
100 | =over 4 | |
101 | ||
102 | =item * | |
103 | ||
104 | In the current implementation, all data is read in when the | |
105 | module is loaded, and then held in memory. | |
106 | A lazy implementation would be more memory friendly. | |
107 | ||
108 | =item * | |
109 | ||
110 | Currently just supports the two letter language codes - | |
111 | there are also three-letter codes, and numbers. | |
112 | Would these be of any use to anyone? | |
113 | ||
114 | =back | |
115 | ||
116 | =head1 SEE ALSO | |
117 | ||
118 | =over 4 | |
119 | ||
120 | =item Locale::Country | |
121 | ||
122 | ISO codes for identification of country (ISO 3166). | |
123 | Supports 2-letter, 3-letter, and numeric country codes. | |
124 | ||
125 | =item Locale::Script | |
126 | ||
127 | ISO codes for identification of written scripts (ISO 15924). | |
128 | ||
129 | =item Locale::Currency | |
130 | ||
131 | ISO three letter codes for identification of currencies and funds (ISO 4217). | |
132 | ||
133 | =item ISO 639:1988 (E/F) | |
134 | ||
135 | Code for the representation of names of languages. | |
136 | ||
137 | =item http://lcweb.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/langhome.html | |
138 | ||
139 | Home page for ISO 639-2. | |
140 | ||
141 | =back | |
142 | ||
143 | ||
144 | =head1 AUTHOR | |
145 | ||
146 | Neil Bowers E<lt>neil@bowers.comE<gt> | |
147 | ||
148 | =head1 COPYRIGHT | |
149 | ||
150 | Copyright (C) 2002-2004, Neil Bowers. | |
151 | ||
152 | Copyright (c) 1997-2001 Canon Research Centre Europe (CRE). | |
153 | ||
154 | This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or | |
155 | modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. | |
156 | ||
157 | =cut | |
158 |