cmlenz@263: .. -*- mode: rst; encoding: utf-8 -*-
cmlenz@263: 
cmlenz@263: ====================
cmlenz@263: Locale Display Names
cmlenz@263: ====================
cmlenz@263: 
cmlenz@263: .. contents:: Contents
cmlenz@263:    :depth: 2
cmlenz@263: .. sectnum::
cmlenz@263: 
cmlenz@263: 
cmlenz@263: Introduction
cmlenz@263: ============
cmlenz@263: 
cmlenz@263: While `message catalogs <messages.html>`_ allow you to localize any messages
cmlenz@263: in your application, there are a number of strings that are used in many
cmlenz@263: applications for which translations are readily available.
cmlenz@263: 
cmlenz@263: Imagine for example you have a list of countries that users can choose from,
cmlenz@263: and you'd like to display the names of those countries in the language the
cmlenz@263: user prefers. Instead of translating all those country names yourself in your
cmlenz@263: application, you can make use of the translations provided by the locale data
cmlenz@263: included with Babel, which is based on the `Common Locale Data Repository 
cmlenz@263: (CLDR) <http://unicode.org/cldr/>`_ developed and maintained by the `Unicode
cmlenz@263: Consortium <http://unicode.org/>`_.
cmlenz@263: 
cmlenz@263: 
cmlenz@263: The ``Locale`` Class
cmlenz@263: ====================
cmlenz@263: 
cmlenz@263: You normally access such locale data through the `Locale`_ class provided
cmlenz@263: by Babel:
cmlenz@263: 
cmlenz@263: .. code-block:: pycon
cmlenz@263: 
cmlenz@263:     >>> from babel import Locale
cmlenz@263:     >>> locale = Locale('en', 'US')
cmlenz@263:     >>> locale.territories['US']
cmlenz@263:     u'United States'
cmlenz@263:     >>> locale = Locale('es', 'MX')
cmlenz@263:     >>> locale.territories['US']
cmlenz@263:     u'Estados Unidos'
cmlenz@263: 
cmlenz@263: .. _`Locale`: api/babel.core.Locale-class.html
cmlenz@263: 
cmlenz@263: In addition to country/territory names, the locale data also provides access to
cmlenz@263: names of languages, scripts, variants, time zones, and more. Some of the data
cmlenz@263: is closely related to number and date formatting.
cmlenz@263: 
cmlenz@263: Most of the corresponding ``Locale`` properties return dictionaries, where the
cmlenz@263: key is a code such as the ISO country and language codes. Consult the API
cmlenz@263: documentation for references to the relevant specifications.
cmlenz@263: 
cmlenz@263: 
cmlenz@263: Calender Display Names
cmlenz@263: ======================
cmlenz@263: 
cmlenz@263: The `Locale`_ class provides access to many locale display names related to
cmlenz@263: calendar display, such as the names of week days or months.
cmlenz@263: 
cmlenz@263: These display names are of course used for date formatting, but can also be
cmlenz@263: used, for example, to show a list of months to the user in their preferred
cmlenz@263: language:
cmlenz@263: 
cmlenz@263: .. code-block:: pycon
cmlenz@263: 
cmlenz@263:     >>> locale = Locale('es')
cmlenz@263:     >>> month_names = locale.months['format']['wide'].items()
cmlenz@263:     >>> month_names.sort()
cmlenz@263:     >>> for idx, name in month_names:
cmlenz@263:     ...     print name
cmlenz@263:     enero
cmlenz@263:     febrero
cmlenz@263:     marzo
cmlenz@263:     abril
cmlenz@263:     mayo
cmlenz@263:     junio
cmlenz@263:     julio
cmlenz@263:     agosto
cmlenz@263:     septiembre
cmlenz@263:     octubre
cmlenz@263:     noviembre
cmlenz@263:     diciembre