Get the global locale that is currently set in C++? - c++

In C++, I can set the current locale like this:
std::locale::global(std::locale(name))
But how can I get the current global locale?
In my code, I need to get the current locale, save it to a tmp var, set the global locale to something else, output something, then set it back to the previous locale.

If you call the default constructor of std::locale, you get it.
std::locale the_global_locale; // <-- automatically correct to std::locale::global
// or a copy of std::locale::classic
More info here: http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/locale/locale/locale

Its return value is the old locale, so just use that.
locale l = locale::global(locale(name));
//do some stuff here
locale::global(l);
Edit: Potentially useful: http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/locale/locale/global

As ipc says, the default constructor for std::locale gives you a copy of the current global locale, but why do you need to cache and then reset the global locale?
C++ routines that use a locale can typically use a C++ locale object you specify, so you don't have to mess with the global locale at all. Using locale objects should be preferred to using the C++ global locale.

Related

C++17 to_string() converts floats with comma

This is happening inside a big project so I cannot really post a minimal reproducible example but I'll try asking anyway. I'm building a list of benchmarks application integrated with a framework we're working on and on one of them the convertion we require to make (float -> string) with to_string appears to reproduce a comma separated result.
| Monitored values:
| [ my_time_monitor.average = 61720,000000 ]
This is the function responsible:
std::string operating_point_parser::operator()(const int32_t num_threads, const float exec_time_ms) const {
return "{\"compute\":[{\"knobs\":{\"num_threads\":" + std::to_string(num_threads) + "},\"metrics\":{\"exec_time_ms\":[" + std::to_string(exec_time_ms) + ",0]}}]}";
}
Since as I said the same exact function is being called by other applications which don't show this unexpected behavior, my guess is that some internal compilation flags are messing around.
set( CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -std=c++17 -DENABLE_THREADS -DHAVE_RANDOM -DHAVE_UNISTD_H -DHAVE_SYS_FILE_H -DHAVE_SYS_MMAN_H -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -DVIPSDATASET_PATH=\"\\\"${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/dataset/orion_18000x18000.v\\\"\"" )
set( CMAKE_C_FLAGS "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -DHAVE_RANDOM -DHAVE_UNISTD_H -DIM_PREFIX=\"\\\"${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/dataset\\\"\" -DIM_EXEEXT=\"\\\"\\\"\" -DIM_LIBDIR=\"\\\"${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/lib\\\"\" -DGETTEXT_PACKAGE=\"\\\"vips7\"\\\" -DHAVE_SYS_FILE_H -DHAVE_SYS_MMAN_H -DHAVE_CONFIG_H")
If you want to take a look at the full application code here's the link. The operating_point_parse::operator() is called inside margot::compute::push_custom_monitor_values().
As stated in the Notes of https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/string/basic_string/to_string, to_string relies on the current locale for formatting purposes:
std::to_string relies on the current locale for formatting purposes,
and therefore concurrent calls to std::to_string from multiple threads
may result in partial serialization of calls. C++17 provides
std::to_chars as a higher-performance locale-independent alternative.
So, if you want to have dots instead of commans, you have to adjust the current locale.
Or instead of changing the global locale with std::locale::global(...) you could use a stringstream and imbue() the locale on that stream only, for ex.
stringstream ss;
ss.imbue( locale you want )
ss << ... write what you need
ss.str(); // get formatted string
std::to_string uses the currently active locale for formatting.
You can set the active locale using a C locale name using:
const char* locale = "C";
std::locale::global(std::locale(locale));
Meaning of locale name is specified in the C standard (quote from C11 draft):
7.11.1.1 The setlocale function
A value of "C" for locale specifies the minimal environment for C translation; a value of "" for locale specifies the locale-specific native environment. Other implementation-defined strings may be passed as the second argument to setlocale.
That value is going to be formatted inside a JSON string
In this case, and more generally when ever you wish to format using style that shouldn't depend on the global locale, should avoid std::to_string.
What would you recommend since you advised on avoiding it?
Anything that doesn't use locale, or lets you specify the locale to use instead of using the global locale. For example:
std::format("{}", 0.42); // doesn't use locale
std::format(std::locale("C"), "{}", 0.42); // use specific locale
Another example is a stringstream with imbued locale as suggested in the other answer.

Locale invariant guarantee of boost::lexical_cast<>

I'm using boost::lexical_cast<std::string>(double) for converting doubles to string, generating JSON serialized byte stream, that is (on remote side) parsed by .NET.
I'm able to force the .NET to use InvariantCulture for parsing, thereby returning predictable result on every possible language.
However, I was not able to find this guarantee in boost::lexical_cast documentation. I tried it a little bit, and it works the same way for different locales set. But, I cannot be sure only from few tests, am I missing something in the documentation, or this cannot be guaranted at all, and I have to use something else?
EDIT:
I've found an issue.
std::locale::global(std::locale("Czech"));
std::cout << boost::lexical_cast<std::string>(0.15784465) << std::endl;
returns 0,15784465, and that is undesired. Can I force the boost::lexical_cast<> not to be aware of locales?
Can I force the boost::lexical_cast<> not to be aware of locales?
No, I don't think that is possible. The best you can do is call
std::locale::global(std::locale::classic());
to set the global locale to the "C" locale as boost::lexical_cast relies on the global locale. However, the problem is if somewhere else in the code the global locale is set to something else before calling boost::lexical_cast, then you still have the same problem.
Therefore, a robust solution would be imbue a stringstream like so, and you can be always sure that this works:
std::ostringstream oss;
oss.imbue(std::locale::classic());
oss.precision(std::numeric_limits<double>::digits10);
oss << 0.15784465;
A better solution to this problem is to use a boost::locale instead of a std::locale as the globale locale. From the documentation:
Setting the global locale has bad side effects... it affects even printf and libraries like boost::lexical_cast giving incorrect or unexpected formatting. In fact many third-party libraries are broken in such a situation.
Unlike the standard localization library, Boost.Locale never changes the basic number formatting, even when it uses std based localization backends, so by default, numbers are always formatted using C-style locale. Localized number formatting requires specific flags.
Boost locale requires you to specify explicitly when you want numeric formatting to be locale aware, which is more consistent with recent library decisions like std::money_put.

What does an empty locale parameter mean?

I saw code that used a locale but didn't provide a name for it. I saw this several times actually and I'm not sure how it works.
auto& f = std::use_facet<std::ctype<wchar_t>>(std::locale());
I was wondering what it means to just use an empty locale constructor. I thought all locale names had to be specified.
For some context, here is where I found the code: http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/locale/ctype/toupper
http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/locale/locale/locale/
The default constructor constructs a copy of the current global locale, which is the locale set by a previous call to locale::global, or locale::classic if locale::global has not been called.
What is locale::classic?
http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/locale/locale/classic/
Returns the classic locale, which corresponds in semantics to the "C" locale (the default locale).
What is the "C" locale?
http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/clocale/
The "C" locale is the minimal locale. It is a rather neutral locale which has the same settings across all systems and compilers, and therefore the exact results of a program using this locale are predictable. This is the locale used by default on all C programs.
std::locale has a constructor that takes no parameter. It creates a locale that's a snapshot of the current global locale.

Currency formatting with c++

Is there an obvious way to perform currency formatting in C++ ?
For example: 1978879 would become 1'978'879
Thanks
Short answer:
int value = 1978879;
std::cout.imbue(std::locale(""));
std::cout << value << std::endl;
Locales are responsible for formatting. Any stream can be imbued with a locale; by default they use the global locale, which by default is the "C" locale which doesn't use any thousands separators. By creating a locale instance with the empty string as the parameter we use the user's locale, which in your case will likely be Swiss.
You can also specify an explicit locale name, but the names are different depending on your platform (Linux/Windows), and not all systems support all locales.
If you want to get a string, the easiest way is probably to use a stringstream (from the <sstream> header):
std::ostringstream stream;
stream.imbue(std::locale(""));
stream << value;
std::string stringValue = stream.str();
Though you can also use the locale's facets directly, but that's more complicated.
You could also set the global locale, which will be used by all streams (unless they're specifically imbued with a different locale):
std::locale::global(std::local(""));
Take a look at the standard C++ localization library. It's not that straightforward but you can probably achieve that through the num_get/numpunct facets.

wcout not writing wide character out to command prompt

I am attempting to write the following character out in windows command prompt: ュ (U+FF6D).
I am able to see the character get written out using WriteConsoleW. I am also able to see the character if i use WideCharToMultiByte using the CP_ACP code page (chcp returns 932: Japanese). However, when I attempt to use regular wcout on the same string which WriteConsoleW successfully prints, it chokes.
When I execute setlocale(LC_ALL, "") it prints English_UnitedStates.1252 (the default code page that I had when I installed).
Why is wcout failing when the others are succeeding?
Note: I rebooted the machine to change its system locale to Japan Japanese
The default locale for C++ iostreams is always the "C" locale. From the C++03 standard, §27.4.2.3/4:
locale getloc() const;
If no locale has been imbued, a copy of the global C++ locale, locale(), in effect at the time of construction.
From §22.1.1.2/1-2:
locale() throw();
Default constructor: a snapshot of the current global locale.
Constructs a copy of the argument last passed to locale::global(locale&), if it has been called; else, the resulting facets have virtual function semantics identical to those of locale::classic().
From §22.1.1.5/4-6:
static const locale& classic();
The "C" locale.
Returns: A locale that implements the classic "C" locale semantics, equivalent to the value locale("C").
Notes: This locale, its facets, and their member functions, do not change with time.
As std::cout and std::wcout have static storage duration, they are guaranteed to be initialized before main is called, and consequently will always have the "C" locale at application startup; i.e., there is no point early enough in execution that one can call locale::global and change the default locale for std::cout and std::wcout. Thus, you must always imbue the global streams yourself if you want to use a non-default code page.
wcout is created before any code in main executes. By the time you call setlocale, wcout is already there, ready to do its thing. It makes no attempt at tracking subsequent changes you might make with setlocale, so it continues to use the default instead of whatever you set with setlocale.