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1 | |
2 | =head1 NAME | |
3 | ||
4 | Locale::Country - ISO codes for country identification (ISO 3166) | |
5 | ||
6 | =head1 SYNOPSIS | |
7 | ||
8 | use Locale::Country; | |
9 | ||
10 | $country = code2country('jp'); # $country gets 'Japan' | |
11 | $code = country2code('Norway'); # $code gets 'no' | |
12 | ||
13 | @codes = all_country_codes(); | |
14 | @names = all_country_names(); | |
15 | ||
16 | # semi-private routines | |
17 | Locale::Country::alias_code('uk' => 'gb'); | |
18 | Locale::Country::rename_country('gb' => 'Great Britain'); | |
19 | ||
20 | ||
21 | =head1 DESCRIPTION | |
22 | ||
23 | The C<Locale::Country> module provides access to the ISO | |
24 | codes for identifying countries, as defined in ISO 3166-1. | |
25 | You can either access the codes via the L<conversion routines> | |
26 | (described below), or with the two functions which return lists | |
27 | of all country codes or all country names. | |
28 | ||
29 | There are three different code sets you can use for identifying | |
30 | countries: | |
31 | ||
32 | =over 4 | |
33 | ||
34 | =item B<alpha-2> | |
35 | ||
36 | Two letter codes, such as 'tv' for Tuvalu. | |
37 | This code set is identified with the symbol C<LOCALE_CODE_ALPHA_2>. | |
38 | ||
39 | =item B<alpha-3> | |
40 | ||
41 | Three letter codes, such as 'brb' for Barbados. | |
42 | This code set is identified with the symbol C<LOCALE_CODE_ALPHA_3>. | |
43 | ||
44 | =item B<numeric> | |
45 | ||
46 | Numeric codes, such as 064 for Bhutan. | |
47 | This code set is identified with the symbol C<LOCALE_CODE_NUMERIC>. | |
48 | ||
49 | =back | |
50 | ||
51 | All of the routines take an optional additional argument | |
52 | which specifies the code set to use. | |
53 | If not specified, it defaults to the two-letter codes. | |
54 | This is partly for backwards compatibility (previous versions | |
55 | of this module only supported the alpha-2 codes), and | |
56 | partly because they are the most widely used codes. | |
57 | ||
58 | The alpha-2 and alpha-3 codes are not case-dependent, | |
59 | so you can use 'BO', 'Bo', 'bO' or 'bo' for Bolivia. | |
60 | When a code is returned by one of the functions in | |
61 | this module, it will always be lower-case. | |
62 | ||
63 | As of version 2.00, Locale::Country supports variant | |
64 | names for countries. So, for example, the country code for "United States" | |
65 | is "us", so country2code('United States') returns 'us'. | |
66 | Now the following will also return 'us': | |
67 | ||
68 | country2code('United States of America') | |
69 | country2code('USA') | |
70 | ||
71 | ||
72 | =head1 CONVERSION ROUTINES | |
73 | ||
74 | There are three conversion routines: C<code2country()>, C<country2code()>, | |
75 | and C<country_code2code()>. | |
76 | ||
77 | =over 4 | |
78 | ||
79 | =item code2country( CODE, [ CODESET ] ) | |
80 | ||
81 | This function takes a country code and returns a string | |
82 | which contains the name of the country identified. | |
83 | If the code is not a valid country code, as defined by ISO 3166, | |
84 | then C<undef> will be returned: | |
85 | ||
86 | $country = code2country('fi'); | |
87 | ||
88 | =item country2code( STRING, [ CODESET ] ) | |
89 | ||
90 | This function takes a country name and returns the corresponding | |
91 | country code, if such exists. | |
92 | If the argument could not be identified as a country name, | |
93 | then C<undef> will be returned: | |
94 | ||
95 | $code = country2code('Norway', LOCALE_CODE_ALPHA_3); | |
96 | # $code will now be 'nor' | |
97 | ||
98 | The case of the country name is not important. | |
99 | See the section L<KNOWN BUGS AND LIMITATIONS> below. | |
100 | ||
101 | =item country_code2code( CODE, CODESET, CODESET ) | |
102 | ||
103 | This function takes a country code from one code set, | |
104 | and returns the corresponding code from another code set. | |
105 | ||
106 | $alpha2 = country_code2code('fin', | |
107 | LOCALE_CODE_ALPHA_3, LOCALE_CODE_ALPHA_2); | |
108 | # $alpha2 will now be 'fi' | |
109 | ||
110 | If the code passed is not a valid country code in | |
111 | the first code set, or if there isn't a code for the | |
112 | corresponding country in the second code set, | |
113 | then C<undef> will be returned. | |
114 | ||
115 | =back | |
116 | ||
117 | ||
118 | =head1 QUERY ROUTINES | |
119 | ||
120 | There are two function which can be used to obtain a list of all codes, | |
121 | or all country names: | |
122 | ||
123 | =over 4 | |
124 | ||
125 | =item C<all_country_codes( [ CODESET ] )> | |
126 | ||
127 | Returns a list of all two-letter country codes. | |
128 | The codes are guaranteed to be all lower-case, | |
129 | and not in any particular order. | |
130 | ||
131 | =item C<all_country_names( [ CODESET ] )> | |
132 | ||
133 | Returns a list of all country names for which there is a corresponding | |
134 | country code in the specified code set. | |
135 | The names are capitalised, and not returned in any particular order. | |
136 | ||
137 | Not all countries have alpha-3 and numeric codes - | |
138 | some just have an alpha-2 code, | |
139 | so you'll get a different number of countries | |
140 | depending on which code set you specify. | |
141 | ||
142 | =back | |
143 | ||
144 | ||
145 | =head1 SEMI-PRIVATE ROUTINES | |
146 | ||
147 | Locale::Country provides two semi-private routines for modifying | |
148 | the internal data. | |
149 | Given their status, they aren't exported by default, | |
150 | and so need to be called by prefixing the function name with the | |
151 | package name. | |
152 | ||
153 | =head2 alias_code | |
154 | ||
155 | Define a new code as an alias for an existing code: | |
156 | ||
157 | Locale::Country::alias_code( ALIAS => CODE [, CODESET ] ) | |
158 | ||
159 | This feature was added as a mechanism for handling | |
160 | a "uk" code. The ISO standard says that the two-letter code for | |
161 | "United Kingdom" is "gb", whereas domain names are all .uk. | |
162 | ||
163 | By default the module does not understand "uk", since it is implementing | |
164 | an ISO standard. If you would like 'uk' to work as the two-letter | |
165 | code for United Kingdom, use the following: | |
166 | ||
167 | Locale::Country::alias_code('uk' => 'gb'); | |
168 | ||
169 | With this code, both "uk" and "gb" are valid codes for United Kingdom, | |
170 | with the reverse lookup returning "uk" rather than the usual "gb". | |
171 | ||
172 | B<Note:> this function was previously called _alias_code, | |
173 | but the leading underscore has been dropped. | |
174 | The old name will be supported for all 2.X releases for | |
175 | backwards compatibility. | |
176 | ||
177 | =head2 rename_country | |
178 | ||
179 | If the official country name just isn't good enough for you, | |
180 | you can rename a country. For example, the official country | |
181 | name for code 'gb' is 'United Kingdom'. | |
182 | If you want to change that, you might call: | |
183 | ||
184 | Locale::Country::rename_country('gb' => 'Great Britain'); | |
185 | ||
186 | This means that calling code2country('gb') will now return | |
187 | 'Great Britain' instead of 'United Kingdom'. | |
188 | The original country name is retained as an alias, | |
189 | so for the above example, country2code('United Kingdom') | |
190 | will still return 'gb'. | |
191 | ||
192 | ||
193 | =head1 EXAMPLES | |
194 | ||
195 | The following example illustrates use of the C<code2country()> function. | |
196 | The user is prompted for a country code, and then told the corresponding | |
197 | country name: | |
198 | ||
199 | $| = 1; # turn off buffering | |
200 | ||
201 | print "Enter country code: "; | |
202 | chop($code = <STDIN>); | |
203 | $country = code2country($code, LOCALE_CODE_ALPHA_2); | |
204 | if (defined $country) | |
205 | { | |
206 | print "$code = $country\n"; | |
207 | } | |
208 | else | |
209 | { | |
210 | print "'$code' is not a valid country code!\n"; | |
211 | } | |
212 | ||
213 | =head1 DOMAIN NAMES | |
214 | ||
215 | Most top-level domain names are based on these codes, | |
216 | but there are certain codes which aren't. | |
217 | If you are using this module to identify country from hostname, | |
218 | your best bet is to preprocess the country code. | |
219 | ||
220 | For example, B<edu>, B<com>, B<gov> and friends would map to B<us>; | |
221 | B<uk> would map to B<gb>. Any others? | |
222 | ||
223 | =head1 KNOWN BUGS AND LIMITATIONS | |
224 | ||
225 | =over 4 | |
226 | ||
227 | =item * | |
228 | ||
229 | When using C<country2code()>, the country name must currently appear | |
230 | exactly as it does in the source of the module. The module now supports | |
231 | a small number of variants. | |
232 | ||
233 | Possible extensions to this are: an interface for getting at the | |
234 | list of variant names, and regular expression matches. | |
235 | ||
236 | =item * | |
237 | ||
238 | In the current implementation, all data is read in when the | |
239 | module is loaded, and then held in memory. | |
240 | A lazy implementation would be more memory friendly. | |
241 | ||
242 | =item * | |
243 | ||
244 | Support for country names in different languages. | |
245 | ||
246 | =back | |
247 | ||
248 | =head1 SEE ALSO | |
249 | ||
250 | =over 4 | |
251 | ||
252 | =item Locale::Language | |
253 | ||
254 | ISO two letter codes for identification of language (ISO 639). | |
255 | ||
256 | =item Locale::Script | |
257 | ||
258 | ISO codes for identification of scripts (ISO 15924). | |
259 | ||
260 | =item Locale::Currency | |
261 | ||
262 | ISO three letter codes for identification of currencies | |
263 | and funds (ISO 4217). | |
264 | ||
265 | =item Locale::SubCountry | |
266 | ||
267 | ISO codes for country sub-divisions (states, counties, provinces, etc), | |
268 | as defined in ISO 3166-2. | |
269 | This module is not part of the Locale-Codes distribution, | |
270 | but is available from CPAN in CPAN/modules/by-module/Locale/ | |
271 | ||
272 | =item ISO 3166-1 | |
273 | ||
274 | The ISO standard which defines these codes. | |
275 | ||
276 | =item http://www.iso.org/iso/en/prods-services/iso3166ma/index.html | |
277 | ||
278 | Official home page for the ISO 3166 maintenance agency. | |
279 | ||
280 | =item http://www.egt.ie/standards/iso3166/iso3166-1-en.html | |
281 | ||
282 | Another useful, but not official, home page. | |
283 | ||
284 | =item http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/docs/app-d-1.html | |
285 | ||
286 | An appendix in the CIA world fact book which lists country codes | |
287 | as defined by ISO 3166, FIPS 10-4, and internet domain names. | |
288 | ||
289 | =back | |
290 | ||
291 | ||
292 | =head1 AUTHOR | |
293 | ||
294 | Neil Bowers E<lt>neil@bowers.comE<gt> | |
295 | ||
296 | =head1 COPYRIGHT | |
297 | ||
298 | Copyright (C) 2002-2004, Neil Bowers. | |
299 | ||
300 | Copyright (c) 1997-2001 Canon Research Centre Europe (CRE). | |
301 | ||
302 | This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or | |
303 | modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. | |
304 | ||
305 | =cut | |
306 |