=pod

=head1 NAME

Locale::Country - standard codes for country identification

=head1 SYNOPSIS

   use Locale::Country;

   $country = code2country('jp' [,CODESET]);        # $country gets 'Japan'
   $code    = country2code('Norway' [,CODESET]);    # $code gets 'no'

   @codes   = all_country_codes( [CODESET]);
   @names   = all_country_names();

   # semi-private routines
   Locale::Country::alias_code('uk' => 'gb');
   Locale::Country::rename_country('gb' => 'Great Britain');

=head1 DESCRIPTION

The C<Locale::Country> module provides access to several code sets
that can be used for identifying countries, such as those defined in
ISO 3166-1.

Most of the routines take an optional additional argument which
specifies the code set to use. If not specified, the default ISO
3166-1 two-letter codes will be used.

=head1 SUPPORTED CODE SETS

There are several different code sets you can use for identifying
countries. A code set may be specified using either a name, or a
constant that is automatically exported by this module.

For example, the two are equivalent:

   $country = code2country('jp','alpha-2');
   $country = code2country('jp',LOCALE_CODE_ALPHA_2);

The codesets currently supported are:

=over 4

=item B<alpha-2, LOCALE_CODE_ALPHA_2>

This is the set of two-letter (lowercase) codes from ISO 3166-1, such
as 'tv' for Tuvalu.

This is the default code set.

=item B<alpha-3, LOCALE_CODE_ALPHA_3>

This is the set of three-letter (lowercase) codes from ISO 3166-1,
such as 'brb' for Barbados. These codes are actually defined and
maintained by the U.N. Statistics division.

=item B<numeric, LOCALE_CODE_NUMERIC>

This is the set of three-digit numeric codes from ISO 3166-1, such as
064 for Bhutan. These codes are actually defined and maintained by the
U.N. Statistics division.

If a 2-digit code is entered, it is converted to 3 digits by prepending
a 0.

=item B<dom, LOCALE_CODE_DOM>

The IANA is responsible for delegating management of the top level country
domains.  The country domains are the two-letter (lowercase) codes from ISO 3166
with a few other additions.

=back

NOTE: As of version 3.27, the FIPS code set is no longer supported.  See the
Locale::Codes::Changes document for details.

=head1 ROUTINES

=over 4

=item B<code2country ( CODE [,CODESET] [,'retired'])>

=item B<country2code ( NAME [,CODESET] [,'retired'])>

=item B<country_code2code ( CODE ,CODESET ,CODESET2 )>

=item B<all_country_codes ( [CODESET] [,'retired'])>

=item B<all_country_names ( [CODESET] [,'retired'])>

=item B<Locale::Country::rename_country  ( CODE ,NEW_NAME [,CODESET] )>

=item B<Locale::Country::add_country  ( CODE ,NAME [,CODESET] )>

=item B<Locale::Country::delete_country  ( CODE [,CODESET] )>

=item B<Locale::Country::add_country_alias  ( NAME ,NEW_NAME )>

=item B<Locale::Country::delete_country_alias  ( NAME )>

=item B<Locale::Country::rename_country_code  ( CODE ,NEW_CODE [,CODESET] )>

=item B<Locale::Country::add_country_code_alias  ( CODE ,NEW_CODE [,CODESET] )>

=item B<Locale::Country::delete_country_code_alias  ( CODE [,CODESET] )>

These routines are all documented in the Locale::Codes::API man page.

=item B<alias_code ( ALIAS, CODE [,CODESET] )>

Version 2.07 included 2 functions for modifying the internal data:
rename_country and alias_code. Both of these could be used only to
modify the internal data for country codes.

As of 3.10, the internal data for all types of codes can be modified.

The alias_code function is preserved for backwards compatibility, but
the following two are identical:

   alias_code(ALIAS,CODE [,CODESET]);
   rename_country_code(CODE,ALIAS [,CODESET]);

and the latter should be used for consistency.

The alias_code function is deprecated and will be removed in the December
2014 release.

B<Note:> this function was previously called _alias_code, but the
leading underscore has been dropped. The old name was supported for
all 2.X releases, but has been dropped as of 3.00.

=back

=head1 SEE ALSO

=over 4

=item B<Locale::Codes>

The Locale-Codes distribution.

=item B<Locale::Codes::API>

The list of functions supported by this module.

=item B<Locale::SubCountry>

ISO codes for country sub-divisions (states, counties, provinces,
etc), as defined in ISO 3166-2.  This module is not part of the
Locale-Codes distribution, but is available from CPAN in
CPAN/modules/by-module/Locale/

=item B<http://www.iso.org/iso/home/standards/country_codes.htm>

Official home page for the ISO 3166 maintenance agency.

=item B<http://www.iso.org/iso/home/standards/country_codes/iso-3166-1_decoding_table.htm>

The source of ISO 3166-1 two-letter codes used by this
module.

=item B<http://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/>

Official source of the top-level domain names.

=item B<http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49alpha.htm>

The source of the official ISO 3166-1 three-letter codes and
three-digit codes.

For some reason, this table is incomplete! Several countries are
missing from it, and I cannot find them anywhere on the UN site.  I
no longer use this as a source of data.

=item B<https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/appendix/print_appendix-d.html>

The World Factbook maintained by the CIA is a potential source of
the data.  Unfortunately, it adds/preserves non-standard codes, so it is no
longer used as a source of data.

=item B<http://www.statoids.com/wab.html>

Another unofficial source of data. Currently, it is not used to get
data, but the notes and explanatory material were very useful for
understanding discrepancies between the sources.

=back

=head1 AUTHOR

See Locale::Codes for full author history.

Currently maintained by Sullivan Beck (sbeck@cpan.org).

=head1 COPYRIGHT

   Copyright (c) 1997-2001 Canon Research Centre Europe (CRE).
   Copyright (c) 2001-2010 Neil Bowers
   Copyright (c) 2010-2015 Sullivan Beck

This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

=cut
