stringprep_locale_charset(3)

📦
version 1.44 · 5 versions
, in arch rolling, epel 10, fedora 43, fedora 44, ubuntu stonking

💖 stringprep_locale_charset(3) — the libidn glow-up ✨

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, because we're talking about stringprep_locale_charset from libidn, manual section 3, and she is so much simpler than she sounds 🫶

🌸 NAME 🌸

stringprep_locale_charset — it's an API function, bestie. that's the whole vibe 💅

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

#include <stringprep.h>

const char * stringprep_locale_charset( void);

look at her. no arguments. no drama. just vibes ✨

🦋 ARGUMENTS 🦋

  • void — literally nothing. she takes nothing. she needs nothing. main character energy 👑

🌈 DESCRIPTION 🌈

okay so first things first, and I'm just gonna say this with my whole chest: the manpage opens with "Enumerated return codes of the TLD checking functions. The value 0 is guaranteed to always correspond to success." — and yes, that is what it says, and no, it does not appear to be about this function at all 😭 I am reporting it, not fixing it. moving on!

So! What does she actually do? She finds out the current locale charset. That's it. That's the job 💖

Here's how she figures it out:

  • She respects the CHARSET environment variable 🫡
  • but typically she uses nl_langinfo(CODESET) when that's supported 🌟
  • and she falls back on "ASCII" if CHARSET isn't set and nl_langinfo isn't supported or doesn't return anything 🙈
⚠️ Now here's the part where you gotta pay attention, bestie, because this is the plot twist: this function returns the application's locale's preferred charset — or, if your system supports thread-specific locales, the thread's locale's preferred charset. It does NOT return what the system may be using. Those are two different things and the difference matters fr fr 💀

And because of that: if you're receiving data from external sources, you cannot in general use this function to guess what charset that data is encoded in. nope. not the move. Instead — use stringprep_convert to go from the external representation into the charset returned by this function, so you end up with data in the locale encoding. that's the workflow. slay 🌟

Return value: she returns the character set used by the current locale. She will never return NULL — she falls back to "ASCII" instead. reliable queen 🎀

🔥 REPORTING BUGS 🔥

Found a bug? don't be shy, tell the maintainers:

Copyright © 2002-2026 Simon Josefsson.

Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification, are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright notice and this notice are preserved. (iconic, honestly — free to share, just keep the receipts 💜)

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

The full documentation for libidn is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and libidn programs are properly installed at your site, this command:

info libidn

should give you access to the complete manual 📖✨

As an alternative you may obtain the manual from:

https://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/manual/

and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🎀 she's version 1.44 of libidn, she's stringprep_locale_charset(3), and she never returns NULL because she would never leave you hanging 💖✨ go forth and convert responsibly 🦋💅

📦 where this page comes from