Question: Triggered by [this comment](https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/60733/count-the-bytes-of-a-program/60740?noredirect=1#comment166202_60740).

Some [code-golf](https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/code-golf "show questions tagged 'code-golf'") answers assume a specific locale. For example [this answer](https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/a/60740/11259) assumes a locale of `en_US.UTF-8`. If the default locale on a given system uses a different encoding, then the answer becomes invalid. In order to make it valid, extra code to set the LC environment variables needs to be added with the effect of increasing the CG score.

@FUZxxl and I [had an interesting discussion on this](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/33758). I think we'd both like to see a community consensus on this one.

Answer: 
No need to specify locale
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I think this is splitting hairs. If you test a submission and it doesn't work due to locale settings, try English UTF-8. If that doesn't work, ask the poster of the submission.

If the submission *requires* a certain locale, the poster should mention this as a courtesy to those who wish to test the submission. However, there should be no penalty for this.
`C` is the default locale
=========================

The standard (and only) locale as defined by IEEE 1003.1 (POSIX) and ISO 9899:2011 (C11) is the `C` locale (or the equivalent `POSIX` locale). Code that requires a different locale must explicitly set one.