1
2=head1 NAME
3
4Locale::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
19The C<Locale::Language> module provides access to the ISO two-letter
20codes for identifying languages, as defined in ISO 639. You can either
21access the codes via the L<conversion routines> (described below),
22or via the two functions which return lists of all language codes or
23all language names.
24
25
26=head1 CONVERSION ROUTINES
27
28There are two conversion routines: C<code2language()> and C<language2code()>.
29
30=over 4
31
32=item code2language()
33
34This function takes a two letter language code and returns a string
35which contains the name of the language identified. If the code is
36not a valid language code, as defined by ISO 639, then C<undef>
37will be returned.
38
39    $lang = code2language($code);
40
41=item language2code()
42
43This function takes a language name and returns the corresponding
44two letter language code, if such exists.
45If the argument could not be identified as a language name,
46then C<undef> will be returned.
47
48    $code = language2code('French');
49
50The case of the language name is not important.
51See the section L<KNOWN BUGS AND LIMITATIONS> below.
52
53=back
54
55
56=head1 QUERY ROUTINES
57
58There are two function which can be used to obtain a list of all
59language codes, or all language names:
60
61=over 4
62
63=item C<all_language_codes()>
64
65Returns a list of all two-letter language codes.
66The codes are guaranteed to be all lower-case,
67and not in any particular order.
68
69=item C<all_language_names()>
70
71Returns a list of all language names for which there is a corresponding
72two-letter language code. The names are capitalised, and not returned
73in any particular order.
74
75=back
76
77
78=head1 EXAMPLES
79
80The following example illustrates use of the C<code2language()> function.
81The user is prompted for a language code, and then told the corresponding
82language 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
104In the current implementation, all data is read in when the
105module is loaded, and then held in memory.
106A lazy implementation would be more memory friendly.
107
108=item *
109
110Currently just supports the two letter language codes -
111there are also three-letter codes, and numbers.
112Would 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
122ISO codes for identification of country (ISO 3166).
123Supports 2-letter, 3-letter, and numeric country codes.
124
125=item Locale::Script
126
127ISO codes for identification of written scripts (ISO 15924).
128
129=item Locale::Currency
130
131ISO three letter codes for identification of currencies and funds (ISO 4217).
132
133=item ISO 639:1988 (E/F)
134
135Code for the representation of names of languages.
136
137=item http://lcweb.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/langhome.html
138
139Home page for ISO 639-2.
140
141=back
142
143
144=head1 AUTHOR
145
146Neil Bowers E<lt>neil@bowers.comE<gt>
147
148=head1 COPYRIGHT
149
150Copyright (C) 2002-2004, Neil Bowers.
151
152Copyright (c) 1997-2001 Canon Research Centre Europe (CRE).
153
154This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
155modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
156
157=cut
158
159