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Lesson 7

Character Set Conclusion

By allowing you to use different character sets, your Oracle database can act as a multinational resource.
This module gave you an understanding of how Oracle allows you to use and store data with different character sets, incorporating the following
  1. How Oracle supports other languages
  2. The NLS_LANG parameter
  3. Character sets
  4. National character sets
  5. Conversion between national language sets

The latest generation of the world's most popular database, Oracle Database 12c Release 12.1.0.2, complete with
  1. innovative Multitenant architecture,
  2. new In-Memory column store and
  3. support for JSON documents, is now available.

Designed for the cloud, Oracle Database 12c helps customers make more efficient use of their IT resources while continuing to improve their users' service levels and further reduce IT costs.


Setting the NLS_LANG Environment Variable for Oracle Databases

Follow this procedure to set the NLS_LANG environment variable for Oracle databases. To set the NLS_LANG environment variable for Oracle databases
  1. Determine the NLS_LANG value.
    a) In the data warehouse database, run the command 
    SELECT * FROM V$NLS_PARAMETERS

    b) Make a note of the NLS_LANG value, which is in the format 
    [NLS_LANGUAGE]_[NLS_TERRITORY].[NLS_CHARACTERSET].
    For example: American_America.UTF8
  2. For Windows:
    1. Navigate to Control Panel > System and click the Advanced tab. Click Environment Variables.
    2. In System variables section, click New.
    3. In the Variable Name field, enter NLS_LANG.
    4. In the Variable Value field, enter the NLS_LANG value that was returned in Step 1. The format for the NLS_LANG value should be [NLS_LANGUAGE]_[NLS_TERRITORY].[NLS_CHARACTERSET].
    For example: American_America.UTF8.
  3. For UNIX, set the variable as shown below: 
    setenv NLS_LANG %lt;NLS_LANG>
    For example: setenv NLS_LANG American_America.UTF8.
    If your data is 7-bit or 8-bit ASCII and the Informatica Server is running on UNIX, then set 
    NLS_LANG %lt;NLS_LANGUAGE>_%lt;NLS_TERRITORY>.WE8ISO8859P1
    CAUTION: Make sure you set the NLS_LANG variable correctly, as stated in this procedure, or your data will not display correctly.
  4. Reboot the machine after creating the variable.

Character Sets Conversion - Quiz

Click the Quiz link below to test your knowledge of character sets and conversion.
Character Sets Conversion - Quiz
In the next module you will learn about the product profile.