Summary

Provide public access to DecimalFormatSymbol's locale to improve caching of DecimalFormatSymbols in java.util.Formatter.

Problem

Formatting of numerics in java.util.Formatter takes a significant performance hit due an expensive retrieval (requires a new instance) of the locale's DecimalFormatSymbol anytime a locale may have changed.

Solution

The retrieval of the DecimalFormatSymbol can be skipped if java.util.Formatter can quickly determine that a cached DecimalFormatSymbol is valid for the current locale. This can be achieved by providing a public accessor to DecimalFormatSymbol.locale.

Specification

+    /**
+     * {@return locale used to create this instance}
+     *
+     * @since 19
+     */
+    public Locale getLocale() {
+        return locale;
+    }
+