German(5)German(5)NAME
German, german - Introduction to German language support
DESCRIPTION
This reference page describes the coded character set (codeset),
locale, device, and other kinds of support for the German language.
Codesets
The operating system supports the following codesets for German by
means of locales, codeset converters, or both: ISO 8859-1 (ISO Latin-1)
ISO8859-1 is the string that represents this codeset in the
names of locales and codeset converters. See iso8859-1(5) for
more information. ISO 8859-15 (ISO Latin-9)
ISO8859-15 is the string that represents this codeset in the
names of locales and codeset converters. See iso8859-15(5) for
more information. UTF-16, UCS-4, and UTF-8
UTF-16, UCS-4, and UTF-8 are the strings that represent these
encoding formats in names of locales and codeset converters. See
Unicode(5) for more information. PC code pages
cp437, cp850, and cp1252 are the strings that represent these
encoding formats in the names of codeset converters. See
code_page(5) for more information.
See i18n_intro(5) and l10n_intro(5) for introductory information on
codesets. See iconv_intro(5) for information on codeset converters and
how to use them.
Locales
The operating system provides the following German locales for differ‐
ent countries: de_CH.ISO8859-1, de_CH.ISO8859-15, and de_CH.UTF-8, for
Switzerland de_DE.ISO8859-1, de_DE.ISO8859-15, and de_DE.UTF-8, for
Germany
The de_CH.ISO8859-15 and de_CH.UTF-8 locales support the euro symbol
for currency. The de_DE.ISO8859-15 and de_DE.UTF-8 locales use the euro
symbol for currency. Because the locale repertoire does not contain the
euro symbol, de_CH.ISO8859-1 and de_DE.ISO8859-1 continue to use the
marc currency symbol.
You can use the locale command (see locale(1)) to find out which
locales are installed on your system. See i18n_intro(5) for information
on setting locale from the operating system command line.
In the Common Desktop Environment (CDE), you need to set a locale by
setting the session language. To do this, from the Options menu of the
Login window, choose Language. Then, from the Language options menu,
choose a session language.
Keyboards
The operating system supports the following VT style and PC style key‐
boards with German characters printed on the keys:
──────────────────────────────────────────────
VT Style (105/108 keys) PC Style (102 keys)
──────────────────────────────────────────────
LK411-AG LK471-AG
LK450-AG LK47W-AG
LK451-AG LK97W-AG
LK461-AG PCXAL-AG
LK46W-AG PCXAL-FG
PCXAL-GG
PCXAL-KG
PCXAL-TT
──────────────────────────────────────────────
For your keyboard to function correctly with your system, you must load
a keyboard mapping table (keymap) that is appropriate for your key‐
board's model and language. If you load a keymap that does not corre‐
spond to your keyboard's model and language, your keyboard behavior is
unpredictable. The label located on the bottom surface of a keyboard
usually specifies its model (five letter code) and language (two letter
code). See keyboard(5) for general information on keymaps and instruc‐
tions for loading them in different formats. The following tables sup‐
ply German-specific information that you need when loading keymaps.
Selecting keymaps in xkb format:
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
For VT Style For PC Style
Keyboard: Select: Keyboard: Select:
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
LK411-AG lk411 LK471-AG lk471ag or lk471
LK450-AG lk450 LK47W-AG lk471ag or lk471
LK451-AG lk450 LK97W-AG lk97wag or lk97w
LK461-AG lk461 PCXAL-AG pcxalag
LK46W-AG lk461 PCXAL-FG pcxalfg
PCXAL-GG pcxalgg
PCXAL-KG pcxalkg
PCXAL-TT pcxaltt
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Selecting keymaps in xmodmap format:
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
For VT For PC
Style Style
Keyboard: Select: Keyboard: Select:
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
LK411-AG austrian german lk411ag LK471-AG austrian german pcxalgg
LK450-AG austrian german lk411ag LK47W-AG austrian german pcxalgg
LK451-AG austrian german lk411ag PCXAL-AG austrian german pcxalgg
LK461-AG austrian german lk411ag PCXAL-FG austrian german pcxalgg
LK46W-AG austrian german lk411ag PCXAL-GG austrian german pcxalgg
PCXAL-KG austrian german pcxalgg
PCXAL-TT austrian german pcxalgg
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Keyboards can have keys with characters printed on both the left and
right half of the keycap. The way you set or use your keyboard to send
different sets of characters varies from one keyboard model to another.
Furthermore, your keyboard allows you to enter more characters than
those printed on the keycaps. See keyboard(5) for information on how to
enter characters.
Printers
PostScript fonts for languages supported by the ISO 8859-1 codeset are
printer resident.
See i18n_printing(5) for a discussion of printer support options.
SEE ALSO
Commands: locale(1)
Others: code_page(5). i18n_intro(5), i18n_printing(5), iconv_intro(5),
iso8859-1(5), iso8859-15(5), keyboard(5), l10n_intro(5), unicode(5)
Writing Software for the International Market
German(5)