Special Edition Using Java™ 2 Enterprise Edition

Using Locale-Based Text Formatters

Java relies on the java.text package for providing locale-based formatting. A locale represents both a language and a country, because two countries might share the same language but still format numbers, dates, and currencies differently. For example, the United States and the United Kingdom share the same language, but they format currencies differently because the United States uses a $ symbol and the United Kingdom uses the £ symbol.

In a Java application, you normally rely on the default locale, which the Java Virtual Machine detects by querying the operating system. Because you can assume that users have configured their systems with the locale they prefer, your application can safely rely on the default ...