code: def _initSymbols(ptc):
      
      # build am and pm lists to contain
      # original case, lowercase, first-char and dotted
      # versions of the meridian text
      ptc.am = ['', '']
      ptc.pm = ['', '']
      for idx, xm in enumerate(ptc.locale.meridian[:2]):
          # 0: am
          # 1: pm
          target = ['am', 'pm'][idx]
          setattr(ptc, target, [xm])
          target = getattr(ptc, target)
          if xm:
              lxm = xm.lower()
              target.extend((xm[0], '{0}.{1}.'.format(*xm),
                             lxm, lxm[0], '{0}.{1}.'.format(*lxm)))
docs: Initialize symbols and single character constants.