Again, I found some interesting I don't understand in an info
page, in info date
to be precisely:
An optional modifier can follow the optional flag and width
specification. The modifiers are:
E
Use the locale's alternate representation
for date and time. This modifier applies to the%c
,%C
,%x
,
%X
,%y
and%Y
conversion specifiers. In a Japanese locale, for
example,%Ex
might yield a date format based on the Japanese
Emperors' reigns.
O
Use the locale's alternate numeric
symbols for numbers. This modifier applies only to numeric conversion
specifiers.If the format supports the modifier but no alternate representation is
available, it is ignored.
Question: An[other] example, how this modifiers are used.
The description sounds to me like »Will do stuff, if other stuff was set, but don't expect too much«. Sometimes I wonder where things like this come from and what their purpose is/was.
Best Answer
I agree with you that there are at times too much choice, but the world is a big place and their are lots of different parties to please, so someone obviously wanted this.
If you look in the libc libraries you'll find this function:
One of the
nl_items
's that you can provide thenl_langinfo
function isERA
.source: 7.6.2 Pinpoint Access to Locale Data