I was thinking about the same question yesterday. And I don't know if this is the right answer, but this is how I answered it to myself after reading and googling a lot. As I understood C means English and this used to be the default locale. When scripting, the output of commands used in the scripts depend on the locale settings. Stupid example would be the output of ls -l and maybe I am greping for a date in it, the date format depends on LC_TIME.. (and I am sure there are other things.. that are maybe more significant) To make sure the same environment variables (regarding language of messages, sorting, date/time format) is used wherever you run the script, a locale would be defined at the beginning. But locales like en_US or de_DE would have to be generated on the system where the script is running otherwise setting LANG=de_DE wouldn't have any influence. That's why LANG=C could be used. A setting that will work on every system and that will produce the same results.
Hope since does make any sense. Please correct me if this is not going in the right direction... Amy -------- Original-Nachricht -------- > Datum: Sun, 22 Feb 2009 14:04:47 +0100 > Von: Peer Heinlein <[email protected]> > An: [email protected] > Betreff: [lpi-examdev] LANG=C -- what is it for? > > In 1.107.3 is defined: > > > Candidates should be able to localize a system in a different language > > than English. As well, an understanding of why LANG=C is useful when > > scripting. > > I asked several tong-time professional administrators (and I'm in business > since 1992 too) -- most of them doesn't have a clue why LANG=C should be > useful except for having a reproduceable behavior in "sort". > > Could you give me a hint? What is this topic for? Just for sort? > > In that case it could be helpful for change the objectives into "As well, > an understanding of why LANG=C is useful when using "sort" in scripts" to > give candidates a chance. > > Sincerely, > > Peer > > -- > Heinlein Professional Linux Support GmbH > Linux: Akademie - Support - Hosting > > http://www.heinlein-support.de > > Zwangsangaben lt. §35a GmbHG: > HRB 93818 B / Amtsgericht Berlin-Charlottenburg, > Geschäftsführer: Peer Heinlein -- Sitz: Berlin > _______________________________________________ > lpi-examdev mailing list > [email protected] > http://list.lpi.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lpi-examdev _______________________________________________ lpi-examdev mailing list [email protected] http://list.lpi.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lpi-examdev
