30 Localization library [localization]

30.4 Standard locale categories [locale.categories]

30.4.3 The numeric category [category.numeric]

30.4.3.1 General [category.numeric.general]

The classes num_get<> and num_put<> handle numeric formatting and parsing.
Virtual functions are provided for several numeric types.
Implementations may (but are not required to) delegate extraction of smaller types to extractors for larger types.249
All specifications of member functions for num_put and num_get in the subclauses of [category.numeric] only apply to the specializations required in Tables 104 and 105 ([locale.category]), namely num_get<char>, num_get<wchar_t>, num_get<C, InputIterator>, num_put<char>, num_put<wchar_t>, and num_put<C, OutputIterator>.
These specializations refer to the ios_base& argument for formatting specifications ([locale.categories]), and to its imbued locale for the numpunct<> facet to identify all numeric punctuation preferences, and also for the ctype<> facet to perform character classification.
Extractor and inserter members of the standard iostreams use num_get<> and num_put<> member functions for formatting and parsing numeric values ([istream.formatted.reqmts], [ostream.formatted.reqmts]).
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Parsing "-1" correctly into, e.g., an unsigned short requires that the corresponding member get() at least extract the sign before delegating.