How to make a Locale object using language and country arguments

Problem:

You want to create a representation of your user's language and country.

Solution:

A Java locale represents a unique language and country combination. You create a Locale by specifying an ISO 639 language code and ISO 3166-2 country code in the constructor.

To create a Locale representing the English language:

Locale locale = new Locale("en");

To create a Locale representing English as spoken in Great Britain:

Locale locale = new Locale("en","GB");

To create a Locale representing English as spoken in Japan using a POSIX variant:

Locale locale = new Locale("en",GB","POSIX");

How to use a static constant to retrieve a common locale

Problem:

You want to use a common locale without having to create a new locale object.

Solution:

Many common locales are stored in static constants within the Locale class for convenience. To retrieve one simply use the locale name attached to the class name. To get a Japanese locale: Locale myLocale = Locale.JAPANESE; To get a Locale for the country of Japan: Locale myLocale = Locale.JAPAN; To get a simplified Chinese Locale: Locale myLocale = Locale.SIMPLIFIED_CHINESE; The available constants as of 1.5 are:

• CANADA
• CANADA_FRENCH
• CHINA
• CHINESE
• ENGLISH
• FRANCE
• FRENCH
• GERMAN
• GERMANY
• ITALIAN
• ITALY
• JAPAN
• JAPANESE
• KOREA
• KOREAN
• PRC
• SIMPLIFIED_CHINESE
• TAIWAN
• TRADITIONAL_CHINESE
• UK
• US

How to get an array of available lLocales

Problem:

You want to list all locales your system supports.

Solution:

To get an array of all installed locales you can use the static getAvailableLocales method. This retrieves the full locales, and not only their ids.

To loop through available locales and output their ids:

Locale[] locales = Locale.getAvailableLocales();

for(int x = 0; x < locales.length; x++){

System.out.println(locales[x].toString());

}

Get all ISO language and country codes

Problem:

You want to retrieve all ISO639 language codes or ISO3166 region codes.

Solution:

You can retrieve both ISO 639 language codes and ISO 3166 country codes by calling static methods on the Locale class.

To retrieve the ISO 639 language codes:

String[] locales = Locale.getISOLanguages();

for(int x = 0; x < locales.length; x++){

  System.out.println(locales[x]);

}

To retrieve the ISO 3166 country codes:

String[] locales = Locale.getISOCountries();

for(int x = 0; x < locales.length; x++){

  System.out.println(locales[x]);

}

Get localized display names

Problem:

You want to retrieve a translated (localized) display name for a language, region, or locale.

Solution:

The Locale class contains methods to retrieve the localized display names for languages and countries. To retrieve a display name use the getDisplayLanguage, getDisplayCountry, and getDisplayName methods.

To get the display name for the language, country or locale using the system locale:

Locale[] locales = Locale.getAvailableLocales();

for(int x = 0; x < locales.length; x++){

  System.out.println(locales[x].getDisplayLanguage() + " - " + locales[x].getDisplayCountry() + " - " + locales[x].getDisplayName());

}

To retrieve a localized version of the display names you can specify a Locale as an argument to the method. This Locale is used to retrieve the appropriate display name.

Locale[] locales = Locale.getAvailableLocales();

for(int x = 0; x < locales.length; x++){

  System.out.println(locales[x].getDisplayLanguage(locales[x]) + " - " + locales[x].getDisplayCountry(locales[x]) + " - " + locales[x].getDisplayName(locales[x]));

}

To loop through all the locales again, but get a Japanese display name:

Locale[] locales = Locale.getAvailableLocales();

Locale japanese = Locale.JAPANESE;

for(int x = 0; x < locales.length; x++){

  System.out.println(locales[x].getDisplayLanguage(japanese) + " - " + locales[x].getDisplayCountry(japanese) + " - " + locales[x].getDisplayName(japanese));

}

Create an ICU4J ULocale

Problem:

You want more options and power than provided by a core Java locale.

Solution:

ICU4J provides a locale class that provides significantly more capabilites than the Locale class in core Java.  ULocale is the foundation of all internationalization classes in ICU4J.

ULocale is defined with at minimum a language code.  It can also contain script name, region code, and other locale specific meta data such as calendar type.

To get an English ULocale:

ULocale english = new ULocale("en");

Calendars

Most Java developers are familiar with the Gregorian calendar and perhaps even Julian Day, but to have a well localized application it is often neccessary to go beyond that.
 
To do business across Asia you need to be able to handle the Chinese, Japanese, and Buddhist calendars.  Muslim nations require an Islamic Calendar, and Israel needs a Hebrew calendar.  Each of these poses problems for the internationalization developer, but thankfully core Java and, to a greater extent, ICU provide some excellent capabilities for handling diverse calendars.

Formating dates and times

Problem:

You want to format a date correctly for a locale.

Solution:

Formatting dates and times correctly for a locale can prove challenging, especially considering the variety of possibilities.  Thankfully, Java provides a number of date formatting methods and classes.  icu4j adds even more tools to the programmers toolbox.

To format a date you need to get an instance of the DateFormat class passing the locale in:

//Get a locale object.  In this case we could also use the static constant Locale.FRENCH

Locale french = new Locale("fr");

//Get a DateFormat instance using the locale.  We also specify a length.

//Possible length values are DateFormat.SHORT, DateFormat.MEDIUM, DateFormat.LONG, DateFormat.FULL

//To demonstrate we will get an example of each

int[] lengths = {DateFormat.SHORT, DateFormat.MEDIUM, DateFormat.LONG, DateFormat.FULL};

//Loop through the lengths.  Get a DateFormat instance for each length and format a date

for(int x = 0; x < lengths.length; x++){

    DateFormat df = DateFormat.getDateInstance(lengths[x], french);

    System.out.println(df.format(new Date()));

}

The output:

29/11/08

29 nov. 2008

29 novembre 2008

samedi 29 novembre 2008

Format and parse an integer

Problem:

You want to format and parse integer values.

Solution:

The Java NumberFormat class makes formatting and parsing a number is localized manner easy and efficient.  Simple specify the locale when retrieving the NumberFormat instance.

To format and parse a number in Hindi:

//Get a locale.  Hindi in India here.
ULocale hindi = new ULocale("hi_IN");
//Get an instance of an integer format.
NumberFormat nf = NumberFormat.getIntegerInstance(hindi);
//format and output.  The decimal is cut off and rounded.
String f = nf.format(1234234234.556);
System.out.println(f);

//Parse the value.  We must handle the potential ParseException
try {
    System.out.println(nf.parse("१,२३,४२,३४,२३५"));
} catch (ParseException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

The output:

१,२३,४२,३४,२३५
1234234235

Format and parse a decimal

Problem:

You want to format and parse decimal values.

Solution:

Localized formatting of decimal values is easy in Java.  It can be accomplished by passing the number into the getInstance method on the NumberFormat class.  Then simply call format and parse.

To format and parse a decimal value for Arabic:

//Get a locale.  We use Arabic without a country here.
ULocale arabic = new ULocale("ar");
//Get a decimal formatter instance
NumberFormat nf = NumberFormat.getInstance(arabic);
//format and output
String f = nf.format(123456.789);
System.out.println(f);
//Parse the value.  We must handle the potential ParseException
try {
   System.out.println(nf.parse("١٢٣٬٤٥٦٫٧٨٩"));
} catch (ParseException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

The output :

١٢٣٬٤٥٦٫٧٨٩
123456.789

Format and parse a percent

Problem:

You want to format and parse percent values.

Solution:

The Java NumberFormat class makes it easy to create a localized format for a percent value.  Simply pass the locale when retrieving your instance.  The format will see 1 as 100% and .1 as 10%.

To format and parse a percent value for Brazillian Portuguese:

//Get a locale.  In this case Portuguese in Brazil
ULocale pt = new ULocale("pt_BR");
//Get an instance of a percent formatter
NumberFormat nf = NumberFormat.getPercentInstance(pt);
//format and output.  1 == 100% and .5 = 50%
String f = nf.format(.78);
System.out.println(f);
//Parse the value.  We must handle the potential ParseException
try {
    System.out.println(nf.parse("78%"));
} catch (ParseException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

The output:

78%
0.78

Format and parse a currency

Problem:

You want to format and parse localized currency values.

Solution:

Currency formatting at its most basic is straight forward in Java programming.  Simply retrieve a currency instance of the NumberFormat class and format your number.

To format a currency for Japanese for Japan:

//Get a locale.
Locale ja = new Locale("ja","JP");
//Get a currency instance
NumberFormat nf = NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance(ja);
//format and output.  Notice the rounding is limited to two place on the output.  This is
//Governed by the currency
String f = nf.format(123456.789);
System.out.println(f);

//Parse the value.  We must handle the potential ParseException
try {
    System.out.println(nf.parse("￥123,457"));
} catch (ParseException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

The output:

￥123,457
123457

Currencies  have a rounding increment that is also important.  A US dollar has cents, and so a currency should be rounded two decimal places.  A Japanese Yen should be rounded to the nearest integer.  If you specify a currency other than the default for the locale the rounding will reflect the locale and not the currency.

Format Ordinal Numbers

 Problem:

You want to format an ordinal number like "1st" or "2nd".

Solution:

Java programmers can handle ordinal number formatting by leveraging ICU4J's RuleBasedNumberFormat class.  

An ordinal number is a number like "1st" "2nd" etc.

To format an ordinal number:

//Get a RuleBasedNumberFormat appropriate for English ordinal format

RuleBasedNumberFormat rbnf = new RuleBasedNumberFormat(ULocale.ENGLISH,RuleBasedNumberFormat.ORDINAL);

//Format the number

System.out.println(rbnf.format(21));

The output:

21st

Parse a spelled-out number

Problem:

You want to convert a spelled out number to a Number.

Solution:

Parsing a formatted number in Java takes a new twist when the number is fully spelled out.   This can be easily accomplished thanks to the ICU4J library from IBM.  

To parse a spelled out number:

//Get a RuleBasedNumberFormat appropriate for French spellout

RuleBasedNumberFormat rbnf = new RuleBasedNumberFormat(ULocale.ENGLISH,RuleBasedNumberFormat.SPELLOUT);

//The String to parse

String number = "three hundred and forty-five";

//We need to handle the potential ParseException

try

{

    //Parse the number

    System.out.println(rbnf.parse(number));

}

catch (ParseException e)

{

    e.printStackTrace();

}

The output:
345

The same thing for a French Locale:

RuleBasedNumberFormat rbnf = new RuleBasedNumberFormat(ULocale.FRENCH,RuleBasedNumberFormat.SPELLOUT);

String number = "trois cents quarante-cinq";

try

{

    System.out.println(rbnf.parse(number));

}

catch (ParseException e)

{

    // TODO Auto-generated catch block

    e.printStackTrace();

}

Spell out a numeric value

Problem:

You want to spell out a localized number like "thirty-six."

Solution:

ICU4J provides some number formatting capabilities that core Java does not.  One of those features is the ability to spell out a numeric value. 

This uses the RuleBasedNumberFormat class to convert a numeric value to a spelled out value.  In other words "75" can be converted to "seventy-five."  This can also be combined with MessageFormat.

To spell out a numeric value:

//Get a RuleBasedNumberFormat appropriate for French spellout

RuleBasedNumberFormat rbnf = new RuleBasedNumberFormat(ULocale.FRENCH,RuleBasedNumberFormat.SPELLOUT);

//Call format passing in the numeric value to be formatted

System.out.println(rbnf.format(345));

 The output:

trois cents quarante-cinq

Use a non-default currency

Problem:

You want to use a currency other than the default for the region.

Solution:

We can specify a currency separate from a region.  This will give us a numeric format that is appropriate to the locale, but use a currency code for the specified locale.

//Get a locale.
Locale italian = new Locale("it","IT");
//Get a currency instance
Currency c = Currency.getInstance("JPY");
//Get a currency instance
NumberFormat nf = NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance(italian);
nf.setCurrency(c);
//format and output.  Notice the rounding is not limited to two place on the output.  Rounding
//is now governed by the locale.  Also notice we now use the ISO code istead of a symbol
String f = nf.format(123456.789);
System.out.println(f);

//Parse the value.  We must handle the potential ParseException
//Notice that we can not handle the '￥' mark in the parse
try {
    System.out.println(nf.parse("JPY 123.456,79"));
} catch (ParseException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

The output:

JPY 123.456,79
123456.79

Viewing Unicode characters in the Eclipse console.

Problem:

You want to display Japanese, Chinese, or other Unicode characters in the Eclipse console.

Solution:

By default the eclipse console does not handle Unicode.  All Unicode characters in the Eclipse console are replaced by question marks. Luckily it is a simple matter to get Unicode characters to display. You will need to make two simple modifications to the run dialog.

1. Open the Run Dialog.  
2. Click on the second tab, "Arguments"
3. Enter "-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8" in the second text area title VM arguments.  
4. Click on the "Common" tab.
5. Click on "Other" under "Console Encoding"
6. Select "UTF-8" from the drop down.
7. Apply and run.

Handle plural text in a localizable manner.

Problem:

You want to use the correct forms for plurals in a sentence including dynamic values.

Solution:

Plurals can be very difficult to deal with.  It is not always as easy as adding an s to the end of a word.  Consider the sentence, "Enter your child(rens)'s names(s)."  That looks pretty ugly, and not human at all.

ChoiceFormat allows us to spcify blocks of text that appear depending upon a numeric value passed in.  For example:

//Create a collection of options separated by pipes, and preceded by numeric markers.
String msg = "0#no dogs| 1#a dog| 2#a couple dogs| 3#several dogs| 3<many dogs";
ChoiceFormat fmt = new ChoiceFormat(msg);
//Pass a choice into the format and that option will be selected.
System.out.println("I have " + fmt.format(2) + ".");

Now obviously our hard coded sentence in the previous example is not a good thing for localization.  We can combine a MessageFormat and ChoiceFormat to solve that issue and give us an easily localizable solution.

//Create an array of arguments.  In this case a ChoiceFormat array
Format[] choices = {new ChoiceFormat("0#no dogs| 1#a dog| 2#a couple dogs| 3#several dogs| 3<many dogs")};
//Create a message format with the type of choice
String msg = "I have {0,choice}.";
MessageFormat mft = new MessageFormat(msg);
//call the setFormats method on the MessageFormat and pass the ChoiceFormat array in
mft.setFormats(choices);
for(int x =0; x < 5; x++){
       Object[] args = {x};
        System.out.println(mft.format(args));
}

How to combine dynamic and static data

Problem:

You want to combine dynamic values with your static resource files.

Solution:

There are many situations where part of a sentence comes from a dynamic source, or is provided by the user.  Obviously translatng a sentence for every possible scenario is not an option.  Thankfully Java provides a solution for this situation.  It is called MessageFormat.

A message format is a way of replacing variables in a sentence in a locale sensitive manner.

A simple message format:

String msg = "Hello, {0}. My name is {1}.";
Object[] args = {"John", "Tom"};
System.out.println(MessageFormat.format(msg, args));

You can also specify formatting information with the variables, and they will be formatted in a locale appropriate manner.

//In the message we specify a format style and type.
//Type can be specified as number,time, date, or choice.
//Style can be short, medium, long, or full for date and time types.  It can be
//integer, currency, or percent for number types.
String msg = "Today is {0,date,full}. I have {1,number,currency} in my wallet";
//The arguments to replace the values are specifed as elements in an object array
Object[] args = {new Date(), 1876};
//Create a MessageFormat instance
MessageFormat mf = new MessageFormat(msg,new Locale("fr","FR"));
//call format passing in the argument array
System.out.println(mf.format(args));

Load properties from outside the classpath

 Problem:

You want to locate your resource bundles outside your application classpath.

Solution:

Create an InputStream and use it to create the PropertyResourceBundle directly using the constructor.

To loop through a collection of locales and look for a matching properties file outside the classpath then extract a resource from it:

try {
   //Create an arra of locale ids.  This should be created programmaticaly
    String[] localeChain = {"fr_CA","fr","en_CA","en"};
    //Get the root directory you will locate the resources in
    File directory = new File("C:\\temp\\");
    //Get a List of files contained in the director.  We could use a FileFilter to
    //reduce this list
    List<String> files = Arrays.asList(directory.list());
    //The InputStream will be used to load the properties file.  Here we initialize as null;
    InputStream is = null;
    //Loop through the locales in the chain
    for(int x = 0; x < localeChain.length; x++) {
        //Check if a properties file exists for that locale.
        //Naturally in a real usage the file name would be specified programmaticaly.
        //If a match is found we create the InputStream and break out of the loop
        String fileName = "foo_"+localeChain[x]+".prop";
        if(files.contains(fileName)){
            is = new FileInputStream(new File(directory,fileName));
            break;
        }
    }
    //If the InputStream is still null look for a root file
    if(is == null && files.contains("foo.prop") ) {
        is = new FileInputStream(new File(directory,"foo.prop"));
    }
    //If a file has been found create the ResourceBundle and output some text
    if(is != null) {
        PropertyResourceBundle rb2 = new PropertyResourceBundle(is);
        System.out.println(rb2.getString("foo"));
    }
}
catch (MalformedURLException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}
catch (IOException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

Spell out the numeric value in a concatenated string

 Problem:

You want to spell out a dynamic numeric value being combined with a static resource.

Solution:

Java MessageFormat provides a number of options for formatting the values passed in.  ICU4J provides even more options.

One of the more interesting formatting options is the spellout format.  Spell out will actually write out a numeric value, such as thirty-five vs. 35.

ICU4J's MessageFormat is used similar to the code Java class.

To format a pattern using a spellout pattern:

//Create an Array of Objects
Object[] tmp = {345};
//Create our pattern.  We specify that we will replace using the first element in the array
//and use a spellout pattern
String msg = "I have {0,spellout} coffee cups in my car.";
//Retrieve the MessageFormat
MessageFormat mf = new MessageFormat(msg,ULocale.ENGLISH);
//Call format passing in the array
System.out.println(mf.format(tmp));
//Now lets do it in Japanese
String jMsg = "私の車の中に{0,spellout}個のコーヒーカップがあります。";
MessageFormat mf2 = new MessageFormat(jMsg,ULocale.JAPANESE);
System.out.println(mf2.format(tmp));


The output is:

I have three hundred and forty-five coffee cups in my car.

私の車の中に三百四十五個のコーヒーカップがあります。

Convert text from one script to another

Problem:

You want to convert the script text is written in.

Solution:

The Transliterator from icu4j class allows for easy conversion of text from one writing system to another.  To transliterate text you simply get an instance of the Transliterator class using the id of the writing system you are converting from, and the id of the system you want to convert into, and then call the transliterate method on the object.

It is important to note that not all writing systems contain all sounds, nor do they handle sounds in the same way.  This means that round trip transliteration is often faulty.

To transliterate text from English to Hangul:

//Get a Transliterator instance for converting Latin script to Hangul (Korean) script
Transliterator trans = Transliterator.getInstance("Latin-Hangul");
//The text to transliterate
String txt = "Transliteration is very cool.";
//Output the example text
System.out.println(txt);
//Transliterate the text
String korean = trans.transliterate(txt);
//Output the Hangul text
System.out.println("To Hangul: " + korean);
//Get an instance of a transliterator going in the reverse.
//This is the same as calling Transliterator.getInstance("Hangul-Latin");
trans = Transliterator.getInstance("Latin-Hangul",Transliterator.REVERSE);
//Output the transliterated English value
//Note the English doesn't match the original value exactly. 
//This is due to the different sounds available in each script
System.out.println("Back to English: " + trans.transliterate(korean));

The output:

Transliteration is very cool.
To Hangul: 트란스리테라티온 잇 베류 초올.
Back to English: teulanseulitelation is belyu chool.

Detect the Charset of a URL

 Problem:

You want to know what character set a web page is encoded in.

Solution:

The Java programmer can use icu4j's CharsetDetector class to create a best guess for the charset of a specified input stream.  Unfortunately this is very much a guess, and should not be overly relied upon.

To get the Charset of web page:

try{
    //The url to check
    URL url = new URL("http://ru.yahoo.com");
    //get an inputstream from the url
    InputStream is = url.openStream();
    //get a byte array from the input stream and close the inputstream
    byte[] bytes = new byte[2000];
    is.read(bytes);
    is.close();
    //get a CharacterDetector
    CharsetDetector cd = new CharsetDetector();
    //set the text to detect
    cd.setText(bytes);
    //detect
    CharsetMatch match = cd.detect();
    //Get the name of the most likely match
    System.out.println(match.getName());
}catch (MalformedURLException e){
    e.printStackTrace();
}catch (IOException e){
    e.printStackTrace();
}

The output:

UTF-8

Get Transliterators available source ids

Problem:

You want to retireve all available source ids for a Transliterator.

Solution:

A Transliterator is created using a combination of a source and a target id joined by a hyphen. 

To get a list of all sources:

//Get an Enumeration of available source ids
Enumeration<String> ids = Transliterator.getAvailableSources();
//Loop through available ids and output them to the console
while(ids.hasMoreElements()){
    String id = ids.nextElement();
    System.out.println(id);
}

The output:

Arabic
Hangul
Tamil
Thaana
Gujarati
Simplified
Han
Telugu
Syriac
Devanagari
Name
Publishing
Digit
Latin
Kannada
NumericPinyin
Jamo
Any
Fullwidth
Cyrillic
Armenian
Georgian
Katakana
Hex
Malayalam
Oriya
Pinyin
Tone
Thai
Greek
Hiragana
Halfwidth
Hebrew
Accents
Traditional
Bengali
Gurmukhi
 

Get all available transliterator ids

Problem:

You want to get all available transliterator ids.

Solution:

You obtain a Transliterator by specifying an id.  The id is a String that contains two script names separated by a hyphen, for example: "Latin-Hangul."

To obtain a list of all ids:

//Get an Enumeration of available ids
Enumeration<String> ids = Transliterator.getAvailableIDs();
//Loop through available ids and output them to the console
while(ids.hasMoreElements()){
    String id = ids.nextElement();
    System.out.println(id);
}

This outputs:

Accents-Any
Any-Accents
Any-Publishing
Arabic-Latin
Armenian-Latin
Bengali-Devanagari
Bengali-Gujarati
Bengali-Gurmukhi
Bengali-Kannada
Bengali-Latin
Bengali-Malayalam
Bengali-Oriya
Bengali-Tamil
Bengali-Telugu
Cyrillic-Latin
Devanagari-Bengali
Devanagari-Gujarati
Devanagari-Gurmukhi
Devanagari-Kannada
Devanagari-Latin
Devanagari-Malayalam
Devanagari-Oriya
Devanagari-Tamil
Devanagari-Telugu
Digit-Tone
Fullwidth-Halfwidth
Georgian-Latin
Greek-Latin
Greek-Latin/UNGEGN
Gujarati-Bengali
Gujarati-Devanagari
Gujarati-Gurmukhi
Gujarati-Kannada
Gujarati-Latin
Gujarati-Malayalam
Gujarati-Oriya
Gujarati-Tamil
Gujarati-Telugu
Gurmukhi-Bengali
Gurmukhi-Devanagari
Gurmukhi-Gujarati
Gurmukhi-Kannada
Gurmukhi-Latin
Gurmukhi-Malayalam
Gurmukhi-Oriya
Gurmukhi-Tamil
Gurmukhi-Telugu
Halfwidth-Fullwidth
Han-Latin
Hangul-Latin
Hebrew-Latin
Hiragana-Katakana
Hiragana-Latin
Jamo-Latin
Kannada-Bengali
Kannada-Devanagari
Kannada-Gujarati
Kannada-Gurmukhi
Kannada-Latin
Kannada-Malayalam
Kannada-Oriya
Kannada-Tamil
Kannada-Telugu
Katakana-Hiragana
Katakana-Latin
Latin-Arabic
Latin-Armenian
Latin-Bengali
Latin-Cyrillic
Latin-Devanagari
Latin-Georgian
Latin-Greek
Latin-Greek/UNGEGN
Latin-Gujarati
Latin-Gurmukhi
Latin-Han
Latin-Hangul
Latin-Hebrew
Latin-Hiragana
Latin-Jamo
Latin-Kannada
Latin-Katakana
Latin-Malayalam
Latin-NumericPinyin
Latin-Oriya
Latin-Syriac
Latin-Tamil
Latin-Telugu
Latin-Thaana
Latin-Thai
Malayalam-Bengali
Malayalam-Devanagari
Malayalam-Gujarati
Malayalam-Gurmukhi
Malayalam-Kannada
Malayalam-Latin
Malayalam-Oriya
Malayalam-Tamil
Malayalam-Telugu
NumericPinyin-Latin
NumericPinyin-Pinyin
Oriya-Bengali
Oriya-Devanagari
Oriya-Gujarati
Oriya-Gurmukhi
Oriya-Kannada
Oriya-Latin
Oriya-Malayalam
Oriya-Tamil
Oriya-Telugu
Pinyin-NumericPinyin
Publishing-Any
Simplified-Traditional
Syriac-Latin
Tamil-Bengali
Tamil-Devanagari
Tamil-Gujarati
Tamil-Gurmukhi
Tamil-Kannada
Tamil-Latin
Tamil-Malayalam
Tamil-Oriya
Tamil-Telugu
Telugu-Bengali
Telugu-Devanagari
Telugu-Gujarati
Telugu-Gurmukhi
Telugu-Kannada
Telugu-Latin
Telugu-Malayalam
Telugu-Oriya
Telugu-Tamil
Thaana-Latin
Thai-Latin
Tone-Digit
Traditional-Simplified
Any-Null
Any-Remove
Any-Hex/Unicode
Any-Hex/Java
Any-Hex/C
Any-Hex/XML
Any-Hex/XML10
Any-Hex/Perl
Any-Hex
Hex-Any/Unicode
Hex-Any/Java
Hex-Any/C
Hex-Any/XML
Hex-Any/XML10
Hex-Any/Perl
Hex-Any
Any-Lower
Any-Upper
Any-Title
Any-Name
Name-Any
Any-NFC
Any-NFD
Any-NFKC
Any-NFKD
Any-Latin
Any-Telugu
Any-Malayalam
Any-Oriya
Any-Gurmukhi
Any-Gujarati
Any-Bengali
Any-Devanagari
Any-Kannada
Any-Tamil
Any-Han
Any-Katakana
Any-Hiragana
Any-Armenian
Any-Cyrillic
Any-Hangul
Any-Arabic
Any-Greek
Any-Greek/UNGEGN
Any-Hebrew
Any-Thai
Any-Syriac
Any-Thaana
Any-Georgian

Get available target ids for a Transliterator source id

Problem:

You have a source id but you want to retrieve all available target ids for the source id.

Solution:

A Transliterator is retrieved using an id that is a combination of a source and target id.

To retrieve all possible target IDs for the source "Latin":
//Get an Enumeration of available target ids for the source "Latin"
Enumeration<String> ids = Transliterator.getAvailableTargets("Latin");
//Loop through available ids and output them to the console
while(ids.hasMoreElements()){
    String id = ids.nextElement();
    System.out.println(id);
}

The output:

Gujarati
Jamo
Han
Katakana
Hiragana
Armenian
Cyrillic
NumericPinyin
Gurmukhi
Bengali
Hangul
Arabic
Greek
Devanagari
Hebrew
Thai
Oriya
Tamil
Syriac
Malayalam
Kannada
Thaana
Telugu
Georgian
 

Read a Unicode file

Problem:

You want to read a Unicode encoded file into memory.

Solution:

To read a file with a charset other than the system default you should specify the charset in the reader.  You can specify either a Charset or the String id of the Charset.

To read a Unicode file containing Japanese characters:

//Surround with try catch to handle potential exception
try{
    //Get an InputStream
    FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream("C:\\files\\test.txt");
    //Get a reader specifying the charset
    InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(fis,"UTF-8");
    //wrap with a buffered reader for performance
    BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(isr);
    //Read it into a variable an output
    String txt;
    while((txt = br.readLine()) != null){
        System.out.println(txt);
    }
}catch (FileNotFoundException e){
    e.printStackTrace();
}catch (IOException e){
    e.printStackTrace();
}

The output:

これはテストです。
高松
日本
米国
英国
世界

Write a Shift_JIS Japanese file

Problem:

You want to write a file to disk in an encoding other than the default.

Solution:

The convenience FileWriter class writes files in the default character encoding of the JVM.  If you want to specify an encoding you should create a FileOutputStream and pass it to an OutputStreamWriter.  The OutputStreamWriter class allows you to specify an encoding Charset.

To write a file to disk as Shift_JIS:

//Handle potential exceptions
try{
   //Our text to write out to the file. In this case garbage Japanese
   String example = "これはテストです。高松日本米国英国世界";
   //Create an output stream
   FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream("C:\\files \\testOut.html");
   //Create a writer specifying our output stream and character set.
   OutputStreamWriter osw = new OutputStreamWriter(fos,"Shift_JIS");
   //Let's buffer it for performance
   BufferedWriter bw = new BufferedWriter(osw);
   //write the file bw.write(example);
   //close the writer bw.close();
} catch (FileNotFoundException e){
   e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException e){
   e.printStackTrace();
}

to test the output open the file in your browser and change the encoding to Shift_JIS.