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Oracle® Database Client Installation Guide
10g Release 1 (10.1.0.2.0) for 64-Bit Windows
Part No. B13804-02
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B Oracle Database Client Globalization Support

This appendix describes Globalization Support topics.

This appendix contains these topics:

B.1 About NLS_LANG Parameters

Oracle provides Globalization Support that enables users to interact with a database in their own language, as defined by the NLS_LANG parameter. When you install Oracle Database Client components, Oracle Universal Installer sets the NLS_LANG parameter in the registry.

The locale setting of your operating system determines the value of the NLS_LANG parameter at installation. Table B-1 lists the operating system locale and NLS_LANG value mappings.

The NLS_LANG parameter is stored in the registry under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\HOMEID\NLS_LANG subkey, where ID is the unique number identifying the Oracle home.

The NLS_LANG parameter uses the following format:

NLS_LANG = LANGUAGE_TERRITORY.CHARACTER_SET 

where:

Parameter Description
LANGUAGE Specifies the language and conventions for displaying messages, day name, and month name.
TERRITORY Specifies the territory and conventions for calculating week and day numbers.
CHARACTER_SET Controls the character set used for displaying messages.


See Also:

  • Oracle Database Platform Guide for Windows for more information on the subkey locations for multiple Oracle homes

  • Oracle Database Globalization Support Guide for information on the NLS_LANG parameter and Globalization Support initialization parameters


B.2 Commonly Used Values for NLS_LANG

Table B-1 lists commonly used NLS_LANG values for various operating system locales:

Table B-1 NLS_LANG Parameter Values

Operating System Locale NLS_LANG Value
Arabic (U.A.E.) ARABIC_UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.AR8MSWIN1256
Bulgarian BULGARIAN_BULGARIA.CL8MSWIN1251
Catalan CATALAN_CATALONIA.WE8MSWIN1252
Chinese (PRC) SIMPLIFIED CHINESE_CHINA.ZHS16GBK
Chinese (Taiwan) TRADITIONAL CHINESE_TAIWAN.ZHT16MSWIN950
Croatian CROATIAN_CROATIA.EE8MSWIN1250
Czech CZECH_CZECH REPUBLIC.EE8MSWIN1250
Danish DANISH_DENMARK.WE8MSWIN1252
Dutch (Netherlands) DUTCH_THE NETHERLANDS.WE8MSWIN1252
English (United Kingdom) ENGLISH_UNITED KINGDOM.WE8MSWIN1252
English (United States) AMERICAN_AMERICA.WE8MSWIN1252
Estonian ESTONIAN_ESTONIA.BLT8MSWIN1257
Finnish FINNISH_FINLAND.WE8MSWIN1252
French (Canada) CANADIAN FRENCH_CANADA.WE8MSWIN1252
French (France) FRENCH_FRANCE.WE8MSWIN1252
German (Germany) GERMAN_GERMANY.WE8MSWIN1252
Greek GREEK_GREECE.EL8MSWIN1253
Hebrew HEBREW_ISRAEL.IW8MSWIN1255
Hungarian HUNGARIAN_HUNGARY.EE8MSWIN1250
Icelandic ICELANDIC_ICELAND.WE8MSWIN1252
Indonesian INDONESIAN_INDONESIA.WE8MSWIN1252
Italian (Italy) ITALIAN_ITALY.WE8MSWIN1252
Japanese JAPANESE_JAPAN.JA16SJIS
Korean KOREAN_KOREA.KO16MSWIN949
Latvian LATVIAN_LATVIA.BLT8MSWIN1257
Lithuanian LITHUANIAN_LITHUANIA.BLT8MSWIN1257
Norwegian NORWEGIAN_NORWAY.WE8MSWIN1252
Polish POLISH_POLAND.EE8MSWIN1250
Portuguese (Brazil) BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE_BRAZIL.WE8MSWIN1252
Portuguese (Portugal) PORTUGUESE_PORTUGAL.WE8MSWIN1252
Romanian ROMANIAN_ROMANIA.EE8MSWIN1250
Russian RUSSIAN_CIS.CL8MSWIN1251
Slovak SLOVAK_SLOVAKIA.EE8MSWIN1250
Spanish (Spain) SPANISH_SPAIN.WE8MSWIN1252
Swedish SWEDISH_SWEDEN.WE8MSWIN1252
Thai THAI_THAILAND.TH8TISASCII
Spanish (Mexico) MEXICAN SPANISH_MEXICO.WE8MSWIN1252
Spanish (Venezuela) LATIN AMERICAN SPANISH_VENEZUELA.WE8MSWIN1252
Turkish TURKISH_TURKEY.TR8MSWIN1254
Ukrainian UKRAINIAN_UKRAINE.CL8MSWIN1251
Vietnamese VIETNAMESE_VIETNAM.VN8MSWIN1258

B.3 NLS_LANG Settings in MS-DOS Mode and Batch Mode

Before you can use Oracle utilities such as SQL*Plus, SQL Loader, Import, and Export in MS-DOS mode, make sure that you have set the character set field of the NLS_LANG parameter for the session to the correct value.

This is required because MS-DOS mode uses, with a few exceptions, a different character set (or code-page) from Windows (ANSI code-page), and the default Oracle home NLS_LANG parameter in the registry is always set to the appropriate Windows code-page. If you do not set the NLS_LANG parameter for the MS-DOS mode session correctly, incorrect character conversion can corrupt error messages and data.

For Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese, the MS-DOS code-page is identical to the ANSI code-page. In this case, you do not need to set the NLS_LANG parameter in MS-DOS mode.

Similarly, in batch mode, set the correct character set value of NLS_LANG by inserting a SET NLS_LANG command at the start of the batch procedure, according to the character set of the files to be processed in the procedure.

Table B-2 lists the Oracle character sets that correspond to the MS-DOS mode for various operating system locales:

Table B-2 Oracle Character Sets for Operating System Locales

Operating System Locale Character Set
Catalan WE8PC850
Chinese (PRC) ZHS16GBK
Chinese (Taiwan) ZHT16MSWIN950
Czech EE8PC852
Danish WE8PC850
Dutch WE8PC850
English (United Kingdom) WE8PC850
English (United States) US8PC437
Finnish WE8PC850
French WE8PC850
German WE8PC850
Greek EL8PC737
Hungarian EE8PC852
Italian WE8PC850
Japanese JA16SJIS
Korean KO16MSWIN949
Norwegian WE8PC850
Polish EE8PC852
Portuguese WE8PC850
Romanian EE8PC852
Russian RU8PC866
Slovak EE8PC852
Slovenian EE8PC852
Spanish WE8PC850
Swedish WE8PC850
Turkish TR8PC857
Catalan WE8PC850


See Also:

" Globalization Support in the Directory" in Oracle Internet Directory Administrator's Guide for Oracle Internet Directory Globalization Support issues and required NLS_LANG environment variables for the various components and tools in an Oracle Internet Directory environment