Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global objects/Intl/Locale/maximize

The Intl.Locale.prototype.maximize() method gets the most likely values for the language, script, and region of the locale based on existing values.

Syntax

locale.maximize()

Return value

A Locale instance whose baseName property returns the result of the Add Likely Subtags algorithm executed against locale.baseName.

Description

Sometimes, it is convenient to be able to identify the most likely locale language identifier subtags based on an incomplete langauage ID. The Add Likely Subtags algorithm gives us this functionality. For instance, given the language ID "en", the algorithm would return "en-Latn-US", since English can only be written in the Latin script, and is most likely to be used in the United States, as it is the largest English-speaking country in the world. This functionality is provided to JavaScript programmers via the maximize() method. maximize() only affects the main subtags that comprise the language identifier: language, script, and region subtags. Other subtags after the "-u" in the locale indentifier are called extension subtags and are not affected by the maximize() method. Examples of these subtags include Locale.hourCycle, Locale.calendar, and Locale.numeric.

Examples

Using maximize

let myLocale = new Intl.Locale("fr", {hourCycle: "h24", calendar: "gregory"});
console.log(myLocale.baseName); // Prints "fr"
console.log(myLocale.toString()); // Prints "fr-u-ca-gregory-hc-h24"
let myLocMaximized = myLocale.maximize();

// Prints "fr-Latn-FR". The "Latn" and "FR" tags are added,
// since French is only written in the Latin script and is most likely to be spoken in France.
console.log(myLocMaximized.baseName); 

// Prints "fr-Latn-FR-u-ca-gregory-hc-h24". 
// Note that the extension tags (after "-u") remain unchanged.
console.log(myLocMaximized.toString());

Specifications

Specification
ECMAScript Internationalization API (ECMA-402)

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile						Server
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet	Node.js
`maximize`	Chrome Full support 74	Edge Full support 79	Firefox Full support 75	IE No support No	Opera Full support 62	Safari Full support 14 Notes' Full support 14 Notes' Notes' Safari 14 Technology Preview 107-111 returns a string instead of a Locale object.	WebView Android Full support 74	Chrome Android Full support 74	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android Full support 53	Safari iOS Full support 14 Notes' Full support 14 Notes' Notes' Safari 14 Technology Preview 107-111 returns a string instead of a Locale object.	Samsung Internet Android Full support 11.0	nodejs Full support 12.0.0 Notes' Full support 12.0.0 Notes' Notes' Before version 13.0.0, only the locale data for `en-US` is available by default. See the `Locale()` constructor for more details.

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support
See implementation notes.': See implementation notes.