Cultural information is encoded in the locale source file using the locale definition language. One locale source file characterizes one cultural environment. See Locales supplied with z/OS XL C/C++ for a list of the locale source and object files supplied with the z/OS® XL C/C++ compiler.
The locale source file is processed by the locale compilation tool, called the localedef tool.
To enhance portability of the locale source files, certain information related to the character sets can be encoded using the symbolic names of characters. The mapping between the symbolic names and the characters they represent and its associated hexadecimal value is defined in the character set description file or charmap file. See Charmap files supplied with z/OS XL C/C++ for a list of the charmap files shipped with your product.
