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AIX LOCALES: What is the difference between en_US.UTF-8, EN_US.UTF-8, and EN_US locales?

Question & Answer


Question

What is the difference between en_US.UTF-8, EN_US.UTF-8, and EN_US locales?

Answer

AIX locale names are case-sensitive, since short names were common before other encodings became more wide spread.
Historical locale names:
en_US (ISO8859-1)
EN_US (UTF-8)
ja_JP (ja_JP.IBM-eucJP)
Ja_JP (Ja_JP.IBM-943)
JA_JP (JA_JP.UTF-8)
IBM locale definitions were used to build all locale objects until 2003, when the Unicode Consortium developed the Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR) for UTF. New AIX UTF-8 locales are built from CLDR source, and are named lang_TERRITORY.UTF-8. (For example: en_US.UTF-8). There might be slight variations in locale behavior between the older IBM locale definitions and CLDR definitions. 
Example differences:
  • LC_COLLATE
    • Many legacy UTF-8 locales used standard ISO-1 LC_COLLATE definitions, so the "[a-z][A-Z]" range only included ASCII characters. In CLDR source, the "[a-z][A-Z]" range might include many other characters. To ensure an ASCII only collation sequence, use "LC_COLLATE=C" 
bash-5.1#  printf '%b\n' "$(printf '\\U%x\n' {1..127})" | sort |tr -d '\n'
EN_US.UTF-8:
-,;:!?.'"()[]{}@*/\&#%`^+=>|~$0123456789aAbBcCdDeEfFgGhHiIjJkKlLmMnNoOpPqQrRsStTuUvVwWxXyYzZ
en_US.UTF-8:
123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}
  • LC_TIME 
bash-5.1# LANG=EN_US.UTF-8;date;LANG=en_US.UTF-8;date

EN_US.UTF-8:
Wed May  3 18:37:56 CDT 2023
en_US.UTF-8:
May  3, 2023 at 06:37:56 PM CDT
  • LC_MONETARY 
bash-5.1# diff -w  <(LANG=EN_US.UTF-8;locale -ck LC_MONETARY| sort) <(LANG=en_US.UTF-8;locale -ck LC_MONETARY|sort)
 
EN_US.UTF-8:
< debit_sign="DB"
< credit_sign="CR"
< left_parenthesis="("
< right_parenthesis=")"
 
en_US.UTF-8:
> debit_sign=""
> credit_sign=""
> left_parenthesis=""
> right_parenthesis=""
These new CLDR locales are provided for server-side support. If customers require AIX native graphical client support (that is, a local AIX Xserver with a keyboard, mouse, and window manager, etc.), then symbolic links need to be created to point to EN_US or EN_US.UTF-8 resource files. Some X11 files might require editing, so users might prefer to use the legacy EN_US (EN_US.UTF-8) locales for AIX X11 clients.
**Tip:
Learn how to install the English UTF-8 locale by reading this technote:
SUPPORT

If you require more assistance, use the following step-by-step instructions to contact IBM to open a case for software with an active and valid support contract.  

1.  Document (or collect screen captures of) all symptoms, errors, and messages related to your issue.

2.  Capture any logs or data relevant to the situation.

3.  Contact IBM to open a case:

   -For electronic support, see the IBM Support Community:
     https://www.ibm.com/mysupport
   -If you require telephone support, see the web page:
      https://www.ibm.com/planetwide/

4.  Provide a clear, concise description of the issue.

5.  If the system is accessible, collect a system snap, and upload all of the details and data for your case.

 - For guidance, see: Working with IBM AIX Support: Collecting snap data

[{"Business Unit":{"code":"BU058","label":"IBM Infrastructure w\/TPS"},"Product":{"code":"SWG10","label":"AIX"},"Component":"g11n, globalization, locale","Platform":[{"code":"PF002","label":"AIX"}],"Version":"All Versions","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB08","label":"Cognitive Systems"}}]

Document Information

Modified date:
03 May 2023

UID

ibm15692220

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