=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::rename_country('gb' => 'Great Britain');

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This 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 L<Locale::Codes::API> man page.

=back

=head1 SEE ALSO

=over 4

=item L<Locale::Codes>

The Locale-Codes distribution.

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

The list of functions supported by this module.

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

Official home page for the ISO 3166 maintenance agency.

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

Official source of the top-level domain names.

=item L<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 L<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 L<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
