Could anyone kindly guide me how to change locale? Any advice would be
greatly appreciated. What I am trying to do is to see if messages are
correctly in a given locale. The environment variables are:
> sessionInfo()
R version 3.1.2 (2014-10-31)
Platform: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu (64-bit)
locale:
[1] LC_CTYPE=en_CA.UTF-8 LC_NUMERIC=C
[3] LC_TIME=en_CA.UTF-8 LC_COLLATE=en_CA.UTF-8
[5] LC_MONETARY=en_CA.UTF-8 LC_MESSAGES=en_CA.UTF-8
[7] LC_PAPER=en_CA.UTF-8 LC_NAME=C
[9] LC_ADDRESS=C LC_TELEPHONE=C
[11] LC_MEASUREMENT=en_CA.UTF-8 LC_IDENTIFICATION=C
attached base packages:
[1] stats graphics grDevices utils datasets methods base
* Since I do not create any objects yet, the following message must be
shown when typing the alphabet 'a'.
> a
Error: object 'a' not found
> Sys.getenv()[c("LANG", "LANGUAGE")]
LANG LANGUAGE
"en_CA.UTF-8" "en_CA:en_US:en"
> Sys.getlocale("LC_MESSAGES")
[1] "en_CA.UTF-8"
>
I am happy with this result. Now, I'd like to see messages in Chineses.
> Sys.setlocale("LC_MESSAGES", "zh_CN.utf8")
[1] "zh_CN.utf8"
> a
Error: object 'a' not found
The message is still shown in English; thus, I am changing the value of
'LANGUAGE'.
> Sys.setenv(LANGUAGE="zh_CN.utf8")
> a
??: ?????'a'
> Sys.getenv()[c("LANG", "LANGUAGE")]
LANG LANGUAGE
"en_CA.UTF-8" "zh_CN.utf8"
> Sys.getlocale("LC_MESSAGES")
[1] "zh_CN.utf8"
>
Now, I'd like to use messages in English again. At this time, I changed
the value of LANGUAGE rather than LC_MESSAGES.
> Sys.setenv(LANGUAGE="en_CA.utf8")
> a
??: ?????'a'
I still see this message in Chinese so that I change 'LC_MESSAGES'.
> Sys.setlocale("LC_MESSAGES", "en_CA.utf8")
[1] "en_CA.utf8"
> a
Error: object 'a' not found
> Sys.getenv()[c("LANG", "LANGUAGE")]
LANG LANGUAGE
"en_CA.UTF-8" "en_CA.utf8"
> Sys.getlocale("LC_MESSAGES")
[1] "en_CA.utf8"
>
Thus, should I set the same value on both 'LANGUAGE' and
'LC_MESSAGES'
in order to change messages in a given locale? However, it is
questionable. Please see the following example (messages in Japanese):
> Sys.setenv(LANGUAGE="ja_JP.utf8")
> a
???: ?????? 'a' ??????
> Sys.getenv()[c("LANG", "LANGUAGE")]
LANG LANGUAGE
"en_CA.UTF-8" "ja_JP.utf8"
> Sys.getlocale("LC_MESSAGES")
[1] "en_CA.utf8"
>
> Sys.setenv(LANGUAGE="en_CA.utf8")
> a
???: ?????? 'a' ??????
> Sys.getenv()[c("LANG", "LANGUAGE")]
LANG LANGUAGE
"en_CA.UTF-8" "en_CA.utf8"
> Sys.getlocale("LC_MESSAGES")
[1] "en_CA.utf8"
> a
???: ?????? 'a' ??????
>
Is this a bug? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Chel Hee Lee
You don't want to change the locale, rather the message language. That
is not a locale, and e.g.
LANGUAGE=en
is the correct form.
See
http://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/r-patched/R-admin.html#Localization-of-messages
for what may be possible during a session: nothing is guaranteed.
Documented behaviour is never a bug: in this case you are using OS
services and it depends on the OS (and as the manual says, on precisely
what versions of the support software the OS is using).
I see
> a
Error: object 'a' not found
> Sys.setlocale("LC_MESSAGES", "zh_CN.UTF-8")
[1] "zh_CN.UTF-8"
> a
??: ?????'a'
> Sys.setlocale("LC_MESSAGES", "en_GB.UTF-8")
[1] "en_GB.UTF-8"
> a
Error: object 'a' not found
on Fedora 20.
On 12/01/2015 06:19, Chel Hee Lee wrote:> Could anyone kindly guide me how to change locale? Any advice would be
> greatly appreciated. What I am trying to do is to see if messages are
> correctly in a given locale. The environment variables are:
>
> > sessionInfo()
> R version 3.1.2 (2014-10-31)
> Platform: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu (64-bit)
>
> locale:
> [1] LC_CTYPE=en_CA.UTF-8 LC_NUMERIC=C
> [3] LC_TIME=en_CA.UTF-8 LC_COLLATE=en_CA.UTF-8
> [5] LC_MONETARY=en_CA.UTF-8 LC_MESSAGES=en_CA.UTF-8
> [7] LC_PAPER=en_CA.UTF-8 LC_NAME=C
> [9] LC_ADDRESS=C LC_TELEPHONE=C
> [11] LC_MEASUREMENT=en_CA.UTF-8 LC_IDENTIFICATION=C
>
> attached base packages:
> [1] stats graphics grDevices utils datasets methods base
>
> * Since I do not create any objects yet, the following message must be
> shown when typing the alphabet 'a'.
>
> > a
> Error: object 'a' not found
> > Sys.getenv()[c("LANG", "LANGUAGE")]
> LANG LANGUAGE
> "en_CA.UTF-8" "en_CA:en_US:en"
> > Sys.getlocale("LC_MESSAGES")
> [1] "en_CA.UTF-8"
> >
>
> I am happy with this result. Now, I'd like to see messages in
Chineses.
>
> > Sys.setlocale("LC_MESSAGES", "zh_CN.UTF-8")
> [1] "zh_CN.UTF-8"
> > a
> Error: object 'a' not found
>
> The message is still shown in English; thus, I am changing the value of
> 'LANGUAGE'.
>
> > Sys.setenv(LANGUAGE="zh_CN.UTF-8")
> > a
> ??: ?????'a'
> > Sys.getenv()[c("LANG", "LANGUAGE")]
> LANG LANGUAGE
> "en_CA.UTF-8" "zh_CN.UTF-8"
> > Sys.getlocale("LC_MESSAGES")
> [1] "zh_CN.UTF-8"
> >
>
> Now, I'd like to use messages in English again. At this time, I
changed
> the value of LANGUAGE rather than LC_MESSAGES.
>
> > Sys.setenv(LANGUAGE="en_CA.UTF-8")
> > a
> ??: ?????'a'
>
> I still see this message in Chinese so that I change 'LC_MESSAGES'.
>
> > Sys.setlocale("LC_MESSAGES", "en_CA.UTF-8")
> [1] "en_CA.UTF-8"
> > a
> Error: object 'a' not found
> > Sys.getenv()[c("LANG", "LANGUAGE")]
> LANG LANGUAGE
> "en_CA.UTF-8" "en_CA.UTF-8"
> > Sys.getlocale("LC_MESSAGES")
> [1] "en_CA.UTF-8"
> >
>
> Thus, should I set the same value on both 'LANGUAGE' and
'LC_MESSAGES'
> in order to change messages in a given locale? However, it is
> questionable. Please see the following example (messages in Japanese):
>
> > Sys.setenv(LANGUAGE="ja_JP.UTF-8")
> > a
> ???: ?????? 'a' ??????
> > Sys.getenv()[c("LANG", "LANGUAGE")]
> LANG LANGUAGE
> "en_CA.UTF-8" "ja_JP.UTF-8"
> > Sys.getlocale("LC_MESSAGES")
> [1] "en_CA.UTF-8"
> >
> > Sys.setenv(LANGUAGE="en_CA.UTF-8")
> > a
> ???: ?????? 'a' ??????
> > Sys.getenv()[c("LANG", "LANGUAGE")]
> LANG LANGUAGE
> "en_CA.UTF-8" "en_CA.UTF-8"
> > Sys.getlocale("LC_MESSAGES")
> [1] "en_CA.UTF-8"
> > a
> ???: ?????? 'a' ??????
> >
>
> Is this a bug? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Chel Hee Lee
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide
> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
--
Brian D. Ripley, ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Emeritus Professor of Applied Statistics, University of Oxford
1 South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3TG, UK
Thank you so much. Your explanation is very clear and helpful to understand. Thank you, again. Chel Hee Lee On 1/12/2015 5:56 AM, Prof Brian Ripley wrote:> You don't want to change the locale, rather the message language. That > is not a locale, and e.g. > > LANGUAGE=en > > is the correct form. > > See > > http://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/r-patched/R-admin.html#Localization-of-messages > > > for what may be possible during a session: nothing is guaranteed. > Documented behaviour is never a bug: in this case you are using OS > services and it depends on the OS (and as the manual says, on precisely > what versions of the support software the OS is using). > > I see > > > a > Error: object 'a' not found > > Sys.setlocale("LC_MESSAGES", "zh_CN.UTF-8") > [1] "zh_CN.UTF-8" > > a > ??: ?????'a' > > Sys.setlocale("LC_MESSAGES", "en_GB.UTF-8") > [1] "en_GB.UTF-8" > > a > Error: object 'a' not found > > on Fedora 20. > > > On 12/01/2015 06:19, Chel Hee Lee wrote: >> Could anyone kindly guide me how to change locale? Any advice would be >> greatly appreciated. What I am trying to do is to see if messages are >> correctly in a given locale. The environment variables are: >> >> > sessionInfo() >> R version 3.1.2 (2014-10-31) >> Platform: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu (64-bit) >> >> locale: >> [1] LC_CTYPE=en_CA.UTF-8 LC_NUMERIC=C >> [3] LC_TIME=en_CA.UTF-8 LC_COLLATE=en_CA.UTF-8 >> [5] LC_MONETARY=en_CA.UTF-8 LC_MESSAGES=en_CA.UTF-8 >> [7] LC_PAPER=en_CA.UTF-8 LC_NAME=C >> [9] LC_ADDRESS=C LC_TELEPHONE=C >> [11] LC_MEASUREMENT=en_CA.UTF-8 LC_IDENTIFICATION=C >> >> attached base packages: >> [1] stats graphics grDevices utils datasets methods base >> >> * Since I do not create any objects yet, the following message must be >> shown when typing the alphabet 'a'. >> >> > a >> Error: object 'a' not found >> > Sys.getenv()[c("LANG", "LANGUAGE")] >> LANG LANGUAGE >> "en_CA.UTF-8" "en_CA:en_US:en" >> > Sys.getlocale("LC_MESSAGES") >> [1] "en_CA.UTF-8" >> > >> >> I am happy with this result. Now, I'd like to see messages in Chineses. >> >> > Sys.setlocale("LC_MESSAGES", "zh_CN.UTF-8") >> [1] "zh_CN.UTF-8" >> > a >> Error: object 'a' not found >> >> The message is still shown in English; thus, I am changing the value of >> 'LANGUAGE'. >> >> > Sys.setenv(LANGUAGE="zh_CN.UTF-8") >> > a >> ??: ?????'a' >> > Sys.getenv()[c("LANG", "LANGUAGE")] >> LANG LANGUAGE >> "en_CA.UTF-8" "zh_CN.UTF-8" >> > Sys.getlocale("LC_MESSAGES") >> [1] "zh_CN.UTF-8" >> > >> >> Now, I'd like to use messages in English again. At this time, I changed >> the value of LANGUAGE rather than LC_MESSAGES. >> >> > Sys.setenv(LANGUAGE="en_CA.UTF-8") >> > a >> ??: ?????'a' >> >> I still see this message in Chinese so that I change 'LC_MESSAGES'. >> >> > Sys.setlocale("LC_MESSAGES", "en_CA.UTF-8") >> [1] "en_CA.UTF-8" >> > a >> Error: object 'a' not found >> > Sys.getenv()[c("LANG", "LANGUAGE")] >> LANG LANGUAGE >> "en_CA.UTF-8" "en_CA.UTF-8" >> > Sys.getlocale("LC_MESSAGES") >> [1] "en_CA.UTF-8" >> > >> >> Thus, should I set the same value on both 'LANGUAGE' and 'LC_MESSAGES' >> in order to change messages in a given locale? However, it is >> questionable. Please see the following example (messages in Japanese): >> >> > Sys.setenv(LANGUAGE="ja_JP.UTF-8") >> > a >> ???: ?????? 'a' ?????? >> > Sys.getenv()[c("LANG", "LANGUAGE")] >> LANG LANGUAGE >> "en_CA.UTF-8" "ja_JP.UTF-8" >> > Sys.getlocale("LC_MESSAGES") >> [1] "en_CA.UTF-8" >> > >> > Sys.setenv(LANGUAGE="en_CA.UTF-8") >> > a >> ???: ?????? 'a' ?????? >> > Sys.getenv()[c("LANG", "LANGUAGE")] >> LANG LANGUAGE >> "en_CA.UTF-8" "en_CA.UTF-8" >> > Sys.getlocale("LC_MESSAGES") >> [1] "en_CA.UTF-8" >> > a >> ???: ?????? 'a' ?????? >> > >> >> Is this a bug? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. >> >> Chel Hee Lee >> >> ______________________________________________ >> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see >> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help >> PLEASE do read the posting guide >> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html >> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. > >