=head1 NAME

Collate - compare 8-bit scalar data according to the current locale

=head1 SYNOPSIS

    use Collate;
    setlocale(LC_COLLATE, 'locale-of-your-choice'); 
    $s1 = new Collate "scalar_data_1";
    $s2 = new Collate "scalar_data_2";

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This module provides you with objects that will collate 
according to your national character set, providing the 
POSIX setlocale() function should be supported on your system.

You can compare $s1 and $s2 above with

    $s1 le $s2

to extract the data itself, you'll need a dereference: $$s1

This uses POSIX::setlocale The basic collation conversion is done by
strxfrm() which terminates at NUL characters being a decent C routine.
collate_xfrm() handles embedded NUL characters gracefully.  Due to C<cmp>
and overload magic, C<lt>, C<le>, C<eq>, C<ge>, and C<gt> work also.  The
available locales depend on your operating system; try whether C<locale
-a> shows them or the more direct approach C<ls /usr/lib/nls/loc> or C<ls
/usr/lib/nls>.  The locale names are probably something like
"xx_XX.(ISO)?8859-N".