Environment variables

On most platforms, Client-Library and Server-Library applications use the following localization environment variables:

LC_ALL
LC_COLLATE
LC_CTYPE
LC_MESSAGE
LC_TIME
LANG

Some systems (typically UNIX systems) automatically set localization environment variables to a specific value when a user logs in. If your system does this, either make sure that the value matches a locale name in the locales.dat file or reset the variables after logging in.

Table 2-2 describes how Open Client and Open Server applications use these environment variables:

**Table 2-2: Environment variables related to localization**
Environment variable	Set to a locale name that indicates	Used by	When
LC_ALL	Language, character set, and collating sequence to use for messages, datatype conversions, and sorting.	A Client-Library or Open Server application.	An application calls cs_ctx_alloc or cs_ctx_global. An application calls cs_locale with type as CS_LC_ALL and buffer as NULL.
		The Embedded SQL precompiler.	At application precompile time, to determine the default language and character set to use for precompiler messages.
		A precompiled Embedded SQL application.	At application runtime, when a precompiled application first calls cs_ctx_global. The precompiler generates a cs_ctx_global call for each Embedded SQL statement.
LC_COLLATE	Collating sequence (sort order) to use when sorting and comparing character data.	A Client-Library or Open Server application.	An application calls cs_locale with type as CS_LC_COLLATE and buffer as NULL.
LC_CTYPE	Character set to use for datatype conversions.	A Client-Library or Open Server application.	An application calls cs_locale with type as CS_LC_CTYPE and buffer as NULL.
LC_MESSAGE	Language and character set to use for messages.	A Client-Library or Open Server application.	An application calls cs_locale with type as CS_LC_MESSAGE and buffer as NULL.
LC_TIME	Date and time data representation to use for a datetime string, such as date and time formats, names in the native language, and month and day abbreviations.	A Client-Library or Open Server application.	An application calls cs_locale with type as CS_LC_TIME and buffer as NULL.
LANG	Language, character set, and collating sequence to use for messages, datatype conversions, and sorting. Open Client and Open Server products search for LANG if they cannot find LC_ALL.	A Client-Library or Open Server application.	If an application calls cs_ctx_alloc or cs_ctx_global, Client-Library examines LANG if LC_ALL is not defined. If an application calls cs_locale, Client-Library examines LANG if cs_locale’s buffer is NULL and the LC variable corresponding to type is not defined.
		The Embedded SQL precompiler.	At application precompile time, if LC_ALL is not defined.
		A precompiled Embedded SQL application.	At application runtime, if LC_ALL is not defined.