LOCALECTL(1)                                   localectl                                   LOCALECTL(1)

NAME
       localectl - Control the system locale and keyboard layout settings

SYNOPSIS
       localectl [OPTIONS...] {COMMAND}

DESCRIPTION
       localectl may be used to query and change the system locale and keyboard layout settings. It
       communicates with systemd-localed(8) to modify files such as /etc/locale.conf and
       /etc/vconsole.conf.

       The system locale controls the language settings of system services and of the UI before the
       user logs in, such as the display manager, as well as the default for users after login.

       The keyboard settings control the keyboard layout used on the text console and of the graphical
       UI before the user logs in, such as the display manager, as well as the default for users after
       login.

       Note that the changes performed using this tool might require the initramfs to be rebuilt to
       take effect during early system boot. The initramfs is not rebuilt automatically by localectl.

       Note that systemd-firstboot(1) may be used to initialize the system locale for mounted (but not
       booted) system images.

OPTIONS
       The following options are understood:

       --no-ask-password
           Do not query the user for authentication for privileged operations.

       --no-convert
           If set-keymap or set-x11-keymap is invoked and this option is passed, then the keymap will
           not be converted from the console to X11, or X11 to console, respectively.

       -H, --host=
           Execute the operation remotely. Specify a hostname, or a username and hostname separated by
           "@", to connect to. The hostname may optionally be suffixed by a port ssh is listening on,
           seperated by ":", and then a container name, separated by "/", which connects directly to a
           specific container on the specified host. This will use SSH to talk to the remote machine
           manager instance. Container names may be enumerated with machinectl -H HOST. Put IPv6
           addresses in brackets.

       -M, --machine=
           Execute operation on a local container. Specify a container name to connect to.

       -h, --help
           Print a short help text and exit.

       --version
           Print a short version string and exit.

       --no-pager
           Do not pipe output into a pager.

COMMANDS
       The following commands are understood:

       status
           Show current settings of the system locale and keyboard mapping. If no command is specified,
           this is the implied default.

       set-locale LOCALE, set-locale VARIABLE=LOCALE...
           Set the system locale. This takes one locale such as "en_US.UTF-8", or takes one or more
           locale assignments such as "LANG=de_DE.utf8", "LC_MESSAGES=en_GB.utf8", and so on. If one
           locale without variable name is provided, then "LANG=" locale variable will be set. See
           locale(7) for details on the available settings and their meanings. Use list-locales for a
           list of available locales (see below).

       list-locales
           List available locales useful for configuration with set-locale.

       set-keymap MAP [TOGGLEMAP]
           Set the system keyboard mapping for the console and X11. This takes a mapping name (such as
           "de" or "us"), and possibly a second one to define a toggle keyboard mapping. Unless
           --no-convert is passed, the selected setting is also applied as the default system keyboard
           mapping of X11, after converting it to the closest matching X11 keyboard mapping. Use
           list-keymaps for a list of available keyboard mappings (see below).

       list-keymaps
           List available keyboard mappings for the console, useful for configuration with set-keymap.

       set-x11-keymap LAYOUT [MODEL [VARIANT [OPTIONS]]]
           Set the system default keyboard mapping for X11 and the virtual console. This takes a
           keyboard mapping name (such as "de" or "us"), and possibly a model, variant, and options,
           see kbd(4) for details. Unless --no-convert is passed, the selected setting is also applied
           as the system console keyboard mapping, after converting it to the closest matching console
           keyboard mapping.

       list-x11-keymap-models, list-x11-keymap-layouts, list-x11-keymap-variants [LAYOUT],
       list-x11-keymap-options
           List available X11 keymap models, layouts, variants and options, useful for configuration
           with set-keymap. The command list-x11-keymap-variants optionally takes a layout parameter to
           limit the output to the variants suitable for the specific layout.

EXIT STATUS
       On success, 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise.

ENVIRONMENT
       $SYSTEMD_PAGER
           Pager to use when --no-pager is not given; overrides $PAGER. If neither $SYSTEMD_PAGER nor
           $PAGER are set, a set of well-known pager implementations are tried in turn, including
           less(1) and more(1), until one is found. If no pager implementation is discovered no pager
           is invoked. Setting this environment variable to an empty string or the value "cat" is
           equivalent to passing --no-pager.

       $SYSTEMD_LESS
           Override the options passed to less (by default "FRSXMK").

           If the value of $SYSTEMD_LESS does not include "K", and the pager that is invoked is less,
           Ctrl+C will be ignored by the executable. This allows less to handle Ctrl+C itself.

       $SYSTEMD_LESSCHARSET
           Override the charset passed to less (by default "utf-8", if the invoking terminal is
           determined to be UTF-8 compatible).

SEE ALSO
       systemd(1), locale(7), locale.conf(5), vconsole.conf(5), loadkeys(1), kbd(4), The XKB
       Configuration Guide[1], systemctl(1), systemd-localed.service(8), systemd-firstboot(1),
       mkinitrd(8)

NOTES
        1. The XKB Configuration Guide
           http://www.x.org/releases/current/doc/xorg-docs/input/XKB-Config.html

systemd 241                                                                                LOCALECTL(1)

localectl [OPTIONS...] COMMAND ...

Query or change system locale and keyboard settings.

  -h --help                Show this help
     --version             Show package version
     --no-pager            Do not pipe output into a pager
     --no-ask-password     Do not prompt for password
  -H --host=[USER@]HOST    Operate on remote host
  -M --machine=CONTAINER   Operate on local container
     --no-convert          Don't convert keyboard mappings

Commands:
  status                   Show current locale settings
  set-locale LOCALE...     Set system locale
  list-locales             Show known locales
  set-keymap MAP [MAP]     Set console and X11 keyboard mappings
  list-keymaps             Show known virtual console keyboard mappings
  set-x11-keymap LAYOUT [MODEL [VARIANT [OPTIONS]]]
                           Set X11 and console keyboard mappings
  list-x11-keymap-models   Show known X11 keyboard mapping models
  list-x11-keymap-layouts  Show known X11 keyboard mapping layouts
  list-x11-keymap-variants [LAYOUT]
                           Show known X11 keyboard mapping variants
  list-x11-keymap-options  Show known X11 keyboard mapping options

See the localectl(1) man page for details.