NLS_LANG question

Even I have read a couple of articles about how to set up NLS_LANG variable, but still not very clear how to set it up.
For example, if I am doing an exp on a NT machine, what should I set it to.
If I am doing an exp on HP-UX, what it should be set to then? I understand this variable should be decided by the machine on which you are doing the work, but how to find out which character set for which machine?

You should look at the client character set... this determines what you should use for the char set part of NLS_LANG. It really depends on the app or the data input/output expected.
For export you should generally use the char set of the server (database) all the way, as to minimize the number of conversions oracle has to do. (From 9i I think this is done automatically for non-dictionary data.)
I recommend that you read the NLS_LANG FAQ!

Similar Messages

NLS_LANG formatting question

Why does a change in NLS_LANG affect formatting output?
User has a simple script:
select spriden_id,
spriden_last_name,
spriden_first_name
from spriden
where spriden_id = '900012540'
and spriden_change_ind is null
select spriden_id,
rpad(spriden_last_name, 15),
rpad(spriden_first_name, 15)
from spriden
where spriden_id = '900012540'
and spriden_change_ind is null
He runs it in one environment and the second statement is formatted one way. In another environment the second statement gets formatted differently. I can emulate this with the following:
bprod> sqlplus dl23
SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.2.0 Production on Mon Aug 13 07:25:12 2012
Copyright (c) 1982, 2010, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Enter password:
Connected to:
Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.2.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options
end of LOGIN.SQL
SQL> @george
SPRIDEN_I SPRIDEN_LAST_NAME
SPRIDEN_FIRST_NAME
900012540 Burdell
George
SPRIDEN_I RPAD(SPRIDEN_LA RPAD(SPRIDEN_FI
900012540 Burdell George
SQL> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.2.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options
bprod> export NLS_LANG=AMERICAN_AMERICA.AL32UTF8
bprod> sqlplus dl23
SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.2.0 Production on Mon Aug 13 07:25:36 2012
Copyright (c) 1982, 2010, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Enter password:
Connected to:
Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.2.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options
end of LOGIN.SQL
SQL> @george
SPRIDEN_ID
SPRIDEN_LAST_NAME
SPRIDEN_FIRST_NAME
900012540
Burdell
George
SPRIDEN_ID
RPAD(SPRIDEN_LAST_NAME,15)
RPAD(SPRIDEN_FIRST_NAME,15)
900012540
Burdell
George
SQL>
So it appears that the 'export NLS_LANG=AMERICAN_AMERICA.AL32UTF8' causes this. Why?
Dan

OK - Stupid quesion. Where can I find the doucments referenced here: Found the answer in Note 747186.1 and Document 330717.1.

Oracle 9i Support for multi language is not working.. Giving question mark

HI,
We have an application which uses oracle 9i as the database. Riight now we are supporting only english and there is a requirement to support multiple languages like korean, chineese and japaneese.
But we are planning to migrate one part of the application to support multi languages. Means it may affect around 10 tables but with huge data. Totally we have around 100 tables.
How to enable the database for supporting multiple langugages.?
Is there any way to enable only the few tables supporting multiple languages. Because if we change the database level parameters for supporting languages, we may need to migrate entire tables. this will be a huge task.
Even if want to set the parameters for supporting multiple languages.. how to set it. Is it possible set it in the existing database or do we need to re-create the table with these prameters.
I have read in some documentation, that we can create table columns with nVarchar2 for supporting multi languages. I have created it. but if i copy some other language characters into those columns, it is giving question mark.
Is it possible to do search using text in native langugage like chineese..
Could somebody guide me on the above clarificationa and what would be the best approach..
Thanks in advance
Jino
Regards,
Jino George
Ext: 6520

You should not use any more Oracle 9.0.1 but at least Oracle 9.2.0.8 to get some extended support if you really cannot upgrade to 10g.
I don't have any Oracle 9.x database available but I've run successfully following test with Oracle 10.2.0.1 in character mode under Linux:
oracle@pbell:~$ export NLS_LANG=AMERICAN_AMERICA.AL32UTF8
oracle@pbell:~$ sqlplus / @nls
SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Production on Fri Aug 29 17:29:56 2008
Copyright (c) 1982, 2005, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Connected to:
Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP and Data Mining options
SQL> drop table t;
Table dropped.
SQL> select * from v$nls_parameters where parameter like '%SET%';
PARAMETER
VALUE
NLS_CHARACTERSET
WE8ISO8859P1
NLS_NCHAR_CHARACTERSET
AL16UTF16
SQL> create table t ( data nvarchar2(100));
Table created.
SQL> insert into t values(unistr('\76EE\7684\5730'));
1 row created.
SQL> select * from t;
DATA
目的地Try to make sure you have the right NLS_LANG setting on the client side (under Windows this is a registry setting).

Multiple Database Instances on Single Server and effect of NLS_LANG

What is the effect of the NLS_LANG registry setting on a Windows server that is to host multiple database instance each created with a different database character set ? The server needs to support data in the following languages : Thai, Chinese Traditional, Chinese Simplified, Vietnamese and Korean. Selecting the Unicode character set(AL32UTF8) is not an option since the application is not Unicode complaint.
My understanding is that as long as NLS_LANG is set correctly on the client connecting to the particular database instance then the data will be stored correctly - is this correct ?
What should NLS_LANG be set to on the server if there are multiple oracle instances with different character sets ?

My question is not in relation to connecting to the database on the server itself but with regards to client connections. What I need to know is what is the effect of the NLS_LANG setting in the registry on a server that has multiple databases each created with a different character set ?
Say for instance, the server has two databases - one created with the character set ZHS16GBK and the other created with the character set JA16SJIS and NLS_LANG is set to SIMPLIFIED CHINESE_CHINA.ZHS16GBK in the registry on the server. Will Japanese data that is inserted into the database that has character set JA16SJIS be stored correctly when it is inserted from a client with NLS_LANG set to JAPANESE_JAPAN.JA16SJIS even though NLS_LANG is set to SIMPLIFIED CHINESE_CHINA.ZHS16GBK on the server ?

Apex 3.1. Interactive Report. Questions and Problems.

Hello!
First of all I'd like to say Interactive Report is a really really brilliant feature, it covers exactly that points which we were missing in previous releases of Apex. Only this single feature makes Apex 3.1 release most significant for us since may be HTML DB 1.6. So much much thanks!
So I have some questions about Interactive Report (IR):
1) About "Save Report" feature. It is possible there to save own version of report layout or overwright the default settings. There is also possibility to completelly disable this function. So the question is it possible to disable only the ability to overwright the default report but give the ability to save own reports. It would be reasonable since too smart or too dum users can break the default layout of report and break the work for other users which don't use this function at all. At the same time the possibility to save own reports
is absolutelly perfect
2) Search. I'm from Germany and we have some national non-english symbols. The IR can't perform seach correctly if we use words with such symbols. Example word "Bestätigt" is interpreted by IR as "BestÃ¤tigt". At the same time the words are correctly displayed in reports and in interface. We have correct NLS_LANG, we have imported the lang_de.sql , and our own self-made search on simple reports works ok. What's to do?
3) Charts in IR. Is there some data volume limits for Chart in IR ? sometimes we get the message "Loading XML...100%" during chart rendering and then happens nothing. In log file of Apache there is no any error messages...
Thanks in advance,
Alex

Hi Alex,
Glad to hear you're putting interactive reports to use, we put in a lot of time trying to get them right (at least for their first release).
1) The "Save As Default Report Settings" option is only available for Developers, so you can only see it if you already see the developer toolbar at the bottom of the page. Standard end-users can't see this, so they can't save over your default report settings.
2) That's right, the character set of the DAD needs to be AL32UTF8.
3) A maximum of 1000 chart points will be returned, but you should not get this error. Can you describe the columns you are charting and the chart settings?
- Marco
Message was edited by:
MAdelfio

NLS_LANG value that suits Forms 10G and Database 11G wanted !

I can't believe how bad is to install Oracle Database and Oracle Forms on the same Windows Vista machine!
I had a problem in Oracle Forms 10g that prevents many items in the Form Builder menu from appearing in English Language and also prevents anything in the web-based forms runtime from appearing in English. I searched the forum for a solution and found that I have to set a NLS_LANG value in the environment variables equal to the following: AMERICAN_AMERICA.WE8MSWIN1256.
I did this and my Forms builder looked great. Everything in english with no problems. But now what ?! The Oracle Database itself refused to connect from all clients! It refused to connect from Forms Builder, SQL Deeveloper, and even from SQL PLUS! The error given is: ORA-12705: Cannot access NLS data files or invalid environment specified.
It seems that what I exactly need is a NLS_LANG value that will satisfy both Oracle Forms 10G and Oracle Database 11G that both are installed on the same Vista machine. The question is: What could this NLS_LANG value be?!
Thank you in advance

If you have connected to the database on which the form is based, prior to running the form from the Builder, the uname and password will automatically be passed in at startup and you will not be prompted.
If you would rather hard code a username and password, enter it in formsweb.cfg. For example:
SYNTAX:
userid=<USERNAME>/<PASSWORD>@<DB NAME>
EXAMPLE:
userid=scott/tiger@orcl
Remember that this change will only impact runtime and have no effect on the Builder.

Oracle Reports 10.1.2.3 output shows question marks, parameter form shows correct Arabic

Hi
Following is our environment
Oracle Application Server     10.1.2.3.0
Microsoft Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition Service Pack 2
Oracle Database 11.2.0.2.0
NLS_LANG     AMERICAN_AMERICA.AR8MSWIN1256
When client runs the report on browser (IE), the parameter form appears fine with Arabic characters.
Inserting the parameters in Arabic also look fine and characters display in Arabic but when report is generated, the output shows the inserted parameters as ????
On server, regional settings are ALL Arabic. Also the registry has NLS_LANG setting of AMERICAN_AMERICA.AR8MSWIN1256.
Report output is same for both html and pdf formats. For PDF subetting, uifont.ali file has been modified but the issue does not seem to be PDF related since the html format reports also shows ???
It is a 3 tier setup hence there is no question of having NLS_LANG registry settings for client PCs that are running Windows OS with Arabic regional settings that match the server.
Interestingly, the same report when run from a different application server having same architecture runs fine. The other application server has exact same version of OAS. Database supports Arabic and is configured as such.I tried comparing the different configuration files on both servers but apparently I cannot find the place where I should change something for the reports to show correct Arabic.
SELECT * FROM NLS_PARAMETERS
WHERE parameter IN ('NLS_CHARACTERSET','NLS_LANGUAGE');
NLS_LANGUAGE
AMERICAN
NLS_CHARACTERSET
AR8MSWIN1256
I am writing this after doing quite some research but seems like I am unable to find a solution to this.
Any help will be appreciated.

Thank you Paul for your reply.
I think you misunderstood me. I understand that it is all volunteer work and I never said I was looking for "quick" or "sure" response. I did not even use the words IMMEDIATE or URGENT in my post. I found it strange because I personally believe that there are many volunteers providing great support to others and yet my post somehow went unnoticed. In my personal opinion, however, if you do not wish to reply then you should just ignore rather than being rude. No one can force anyone to do the good work that people are doing here at oracle forums and they are all doing this out of choice. Let me also assure you that me and people like myself really appreciate their efforts.
Having said that, I wish you had taken time to read about my issue. There is infact a registry setting that specifies the NLS_LANG and it is already set under both Infrastructure and Middle Tier in the registry. I mentioned it earlier. The value is AMERICAN_AMERICA.AR8MSWIN1256 and I believe this is correct for Arabic characters.
What is confusing for me is the fact that if browser was not capable of showing Arabic characters then the static Arabic words in the reports layout (field name for instance) would also show as garbage or question marks. They appear to be fine. Since we are just passing some parameters in Arabic language and not saving anything in the database, the DB characterset does not come into play for now. Although the DB characterset is also set to store Arabic data. We are displaying the parameters that we are passing through the parameter form in the output of the report and this is where we see question marks (????).
Finally, if it was a browser issue or a DB characterset issue, then in my limited knowledge, I believe that the report that we are running using the other Application Server that is pointing to the same database should also show the same behaviour. That is not the case as it displays the same report perfectly. Client machine is the same in both cases using Windows 7 and IE as browser.
http://appserver1/reports/rwservlet?admin/myreport           (connecting to db1)    works fine
http://appserver2/reports/rwservlet?admin/myreport          (connecting to db1)     show question marks
Above URLs are examples. The point I am trying to make here is that the issue has to be with the new application server and it cannot be registry settings as I have double checked the entry and it exists in all Oracle Homes ie Infrastructure and Middle Tier. So maybe it is some configuration file setting that I am missing here.
Any help will be appreciated.

Oracle Translation Builder: Japanese characters in question mark (????)

Hi All,
We need to translate a custom from labels from English to Japanese, so that both US and Japan can use that form.
So we have used Oracle Translation Builder to specify the translation. As an initial step, we just changed the labels to some other english words. And now we have generated American .fmx and Japanese .fmx. And we are able to see the difference.
Now in Oracle translation Builder(OTB), if i paste Japanese characters in the translation editor, we are able to see the Japanese characters. But if we save&close the OTB and re-open it, we see all the question(???) marks. Even if we generate/upload the Japanese.fmx to applications, we are seeing the same Japanese ??? marks in the applications.
Can you please let me know, what am i missing...
(I have installed the Asian language (ARIALUNI.ttf) in my local system.)

May be You should set the environment variable NLS_LANG to "JAPANESE_JAPAN.WE8MSWIN1252" or "AMERICAN_AMERICA.JA16SJIS" will allow you to store Japanese providing the input data is truly JA16SJIS and if the database is also in a character set that can store Japanese like UTF8 or JA16SJIS).
Or use Oracle Translation Hub it is useful tool. It replaces the OTB :-)
Edited by: user9212008 on 2.4.2010 1:09

Special characters are changed to question marks

I'm using SQL developer 3.107 for unit testing.
In a particular unit test, the expected result is a sentence (varchar2) with a special character (ë).
But when I save the result, SQL developer changes the character to 2 question marks.
And as a result, the unit test fails because the expected result differs from the received result (where the 'ë' remains unchanged).
I already tried changing the encoding in the SQL Developer preferences from cp1252 to UNICODE and UTF8 but that didn't help.
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance

Hello:
I guess that what you observe could be an interaction between the server characterset and the client characterset.
These are the results with different client characterset settings:
NLS_LANG=american_america.WE8ISO8859P1
select 'ë' c, dump('ë') dumped from dual;
C DUMPED
ë Typ=96 Len=1: 137
NLS_LANG=american_america.WE8MSWIN1252
select 'ë' c, dump('ë') dumped from dual;
C DUMPED
+ Typ=96 Len=1: 191
set NLS_LANG=american_america.WE8PC850
select 'ë' c, dump('ë') dumped from dual;
C DUMPED
ë Typ=96 Len=1: 235
According to the ISO 8859-1, 8-bit single-byte coded graphic character sets document [http://www.open-std.org/JTC1/SC2/WG3/docs/n411.pdf] the encoding of the latin small letter e with diaeresis is 0xEB -> (decimal 235).
If you set the client to WE8PC850 do you see a correct behaviour?

Inserting upside down question marks/Inverted Question marks into database

Hi All,
When I am inserting any special character into database it is
inserted as upside down question marks/Inverted Question marks.
When I am trying to display the same string throgh the application
the special characters are displaying as small square box.
NLS Parameters are as follows:-
NLS_LANGUAGE AMERICAN
NLS_CHARACTERSET UTF8
NLS_NCHAR_CHARACTERSET UTF8
NLS_RDBMS_VERSION 9.2.0.4.0
can any body help in this?
Thanks in advance.

What are any "special character" and how do you insert them?
Have you verified what is stored in the db, e.g. with select string, dump(string,1016) from table ...
What character set (or locale) does the app/os use, and is NLS_LANG set accordingly?
The square box often means that the font used does not have the proper glyph to represent (display) a character. In your case this may be a consequence of improperly storing or retrieving character data.

Values are returned as question marks.

I have set up a UTF-8 database, on my english version of WinXP..
SELECT * FROM NLS_DATABASE_PARAMETERS;
.. shows this is correct - UTF8
I have set up NLS_LANG variable in windows, to be "American.America.UTF8"
Using SQL*Plus worksheet I can update a row in my database to contain chinese characters. I dont know what the chinese means, but I can copy and paste from another application, and the glyphs looks the same in the source and SQL*Plus worksheet.
I can then select the row ..
SELECT * FROM THETABLE WHERE THECOLUMN = '{CHINESECHARS}';
The correct row is returned, but the column is shown with just question marks, instead of the glyphs I expect.
(This also happens with the web application I am developing which also seems to return qurestion marks. (PHP not JSP))
Can anyone shed any light on this problem as I am completely stuck.

Check these notes# 132453.1, 152260.1 & 158577.1 out on metalink also for further good details. This may/may not work for Chinese yet it should steer you
in the right direction.. It's the combination of the NLS_LANG and Active
Code page settings on the client as well as the database characterset. I believe you say the database character set is UTF8. That part should be correct. It's then the client side combo's that do the trick. It's trying differing combo's until he desired results are achieved. Having not worked with Chinese I can
give you an example of what I've experienced...
These are the following steps I performed to enable the client SQL*Plus (command line and GUI) and SQL*Worksheet to display/input the euro currency symbol correctly for example...
1) Search from the top of the registry (regedit) for ALL occurrences of NLS_LANG and make the value AMERICAN_AMERICA.WE8MSWIN1252.
2) Go to the following registry entry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Nls\CodePage\ACP
and change the active code page (ACP) to 1252. If there is an OEMACP entry there change that also to 1252.
3) Reboot the PC
To test .. go to DOS and enter at the prompt..
E:\>chcp
Active code page: 1252
If the above message IS NOT 1252 you must have missed editting the registry entry
explained above. However you can change it for this session by entering
E:\>chcp 1252
- < Set font to Lucida Console (in Properties, Font tab) >
To get the UNICODE characters you want insert into the database do the following
E:\>charmap
You will see a display of different characters.
If you click on advanced view at the lower right corner a search screen comes up. Enter UNICODE for the character set, ALL for group by and EURO for the search for and the euro currency symbol will come up. This is one way how the user can enter this character into the app. You can copy the character in this function as you can see and then you can paste it elsewhere. Copy whatever character you want to test with. My test was with the euro currency symbol.
E:\>sqlplus.exe <user>/<pwd>
SQL*Plus: Release 8.1.7.0.0 - Production on Fri Jul 13 13:22:19 2001
(c) Copyright 1999 Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved.
Connected to: Oracle8i Enterprise Edition Release 8.1.7.0.0 - Production
With the Partitioning option JServer Release 8.1.7.0.0 - Production
SQL> create table t (a char(3));
Table created.
SQL>insert into t values ('');
1 row inserted. SQL>
commit;
SQL> select * from t;
A
If the all the registry edits were performed correctly this will work with
SQL*Plus GUI and SQL*Worksheet.
Check these notes# 132453.1, 152260.1 & 158577.1 out on metalink also for further details real carefully.

Arabic characters are displaying as question marks in forms 10g

We have migrated our application from forms 6i to forms 10g and now in forms 10g the arabic characters are displaying as question marks while it displays correctly in the old application using forms 6i. I have already set the character set to AR8MSWIN1256 in the registry, but it didn't help. Somebody please help.

@ Sarah, Al-Salamu Alikum We Rahmatu Allah we Barakatu,
Sarah Habibty, why new installation ? In order to select a new suitable character set !!!
Then creating a new instance from the db is a better alternative since it saves time,effort and another back up of his current db is exist safely if needed for any purposes in the future.
@Amer,honestly speaking...
Modifing ur NLS_LANG to > AMERICAN_AMERICA.AR8MSWIN1256
Works for me in both Arabic and English data in 2 applications.This works in my pc.But it didn't works at my boss pc this can happened don't have any reason for that.!!!!
i spent lot's of time trying to search but what i had got is that solution i suggested by a friend of mine.
Now please could you advise me, is it better to create a new instance of database as Amatu Allah has suggested or is it better to change the character set through sql as some others have suggested? Again i suggest to select the short cut way ; to reset the character set through sql after taking a back up from ur data that is currently exist.
then retest again doing the select and test ur data input and retrieval.
SQL> select * from v$nls_parameters
2 where parameter in ('NLS_CHARACTERSET','NLS_LANGUAGE');watching the output if it works that's fine saving ur time & effort .
if not working with the correct NLS_CHARACTERSET then use my previous solution.
Hope this helps...
Regards,
Amatu Allah

Strange Chars after modify reports.sh NLS_LANG

I had a problem when I modify NLS_LANG in reports.sh in linux. If i put NLS_LANG=PORTUGUESE_PORTUGAL.WE8MSWIN1252 my reports comes with strange some like greek characters. My database charset is WE8MSWIN1252.
My database v$NLS_PARAMETERS are:
NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE
PORTUGUESE
NLS_CHARACTERSET
WE8MSWIN1252
Anyone with same problem too?
Thanks
Joao

Sorry,
I forgot to mention that, I have already added 3of9 font in PPD files, by oversight i missed in my question.
Even after adding I cannot print a report Arabic + Barcode + English character.
I am able to print report either Arabic+English or Barcode + English and all three together NO.
Please suggest..

Problem in Nls_lang (words on form appears like ??????????)

hi
i develop forms in old release of developer 10g suit and recompile it in higher release of developer 10g suit
i have a problem with language in my forms , all my words on my forms appears question marks like ??????????
i`m using developer 10g suit(higher release) , OracleXEUniv database engine , windows XP as OS.
words on forms written by Arabic ,
i change all NLS_Lang registry files for oracle into ARABIC_EGYPT.AR8MSWIN1256
and change regional and language options >advanced tap > Arabic(Egypt), and mark all Arabic choices and transfer all files needed from windows CD.
and recompile forms,the problem still there,
please replay for answers , how can i fix it?
thank you,

hi
are u able to write in arabic?
sarah

Question marks in CommandLine

I am using Oracle 10g, and OS-WinXPSP3 Russian.
When I issue sqlplus and other sql queries , response comes in question marks i.e. non-russian and non-english letters..
I installed english version of oracle, and chose UTF8 character set.

You need to check how NLS_LANG is set at Windows level taking into account which SQL*PLus executable you are using : sqlplus.exe or sqlplusw.exe. See NLS_LANG FAQ section on Windows
http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/globalization/htdocs/nls_lang%20faq.htm#_Toc110410552

NLS_LANG question

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