E
National Language Support

This appendix describes National Language Support (NLS).

Specific topics discussed are:

• NLS_LANG Parameters and Components
• Default Values for NLS_LANG
• NLS_LANG Settings in MS-DOS Mode and Batch Mode
• Installing Additional Languages

NLS_LANG Parameters and Components

Oracle8 Enterprise Edition provides NLS that enables users to interact with the database in their selected language. When you install Oracle8 Enterprise Edition, you select a language for database messages. Oracle Installer supplies a value for the NLS_LANG parameter based on the language selected.

The NLS_LANG parameter uses the following format:

NLS_LANG = LANGUAGE_TERRITORY.CHARACTER_SET

where:

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.

 

The default language at installation is either the operating system language or the NLS_LANG setting of the currently selected Oracle home.

The NLS_LANG parameter is stored in the registry under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\NLS_LANG subkey for the first Oracle home on your computer. For subsequent installations to different Oracle homes on the same computer, the path is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ORACLE\HOMEID\NLS_LANG, where ID is the unique number identifying the Oracle home. See Appendix C, "Configuration Parameters and the Registry" for more information on the subkey locations for multiple Oracle homes.

Additional Information:   See Oracle8 Reference for information on the NLS_LANG parameter and NLS initialization parameters.

   

Default Values for NLS_LANG

The following table lists the default NLS_LANG values if you select any of these languages during installation of Oracle8 Enterprise Edition.

If You Select...	Then the NLS_LANG Value is...
Arabic	ARABIC_UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.AR8MSWIN1256
Brazilian Portuguese	BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE_BRAZIL.WE8ISO8859P1
Catalan	CATALAN_CATALONIA.WE8ISO8859P1
Croatian	CROATIAN_CROATIA.EE8MSWIN1250
Czech	CZECH_CZECH REPUBLIC.EE8MSWIN1250
Danish	DANISH_DENMARK.WE8ISO8859P1
Dutch	DUTCH_THE NETHERLANDS.WE8ISO8859P1
English	AMERICAN_AMERICA.WE8ISO8859P1
Finnish	FINNISH_FINLAND.WE8ISO8859P1
French	FRENCH_FRANCE.WE8ISO8859P1
German	GERMAN_GERMANY.WE8ISO8859P1
Greek	GREEK_GREECE.EL8MSWIN1253
Hebrew	HEBREW_ISRAEL.IW8MSWIN1255
Hungarian	HUNGARIAN_HUNGARY.EE8MSWIN1250
Italian	ITALIAN_ITALY.WE8ISO8859P1
Japanese	JAPANESE_JAPAN.JA16SJIS
Korean	KOREAN_KOREA.KO16KSC5601
Latin American Spanish	LATIN AMERICAN SPANISH_AMERICA.WE8ISO8859P1
Norwegian	NORWEGIAN_NORWAY.WE8ISO8859P1
Polish	POLISH_POLAND.EE8MSWIN1250
Portuguese	PORTUGUESE_PORTUGAL.WE8ISO8859P1
Romanian	ROMANIAN_ROMANIA.EE8MSWIN1250
Russian	RUSSIAN_CIS.CL8MSWIN1251
Simplified Chinese	SIMPLIFIED CHINESE_CHINA.ZHS16GBK
Slovak	SLOVAK_SLOVAKIA.EE8MSWIN1250
Slovenian	SLOVENIAN_SLOVENIA.EE8MSWIN1250
Spanish	SPANISH_SPAIN.WE8ISO8859P1
Swedish	SWEDISH_SWEDEN.WE8ISO8859P1
Traditional Chinese	TRADITIONAL CHINESE_TAIWAN.ZHT16BIG5
Turkish	TURKISH_TURKEY.WE8ISO8859P9

 

NLS_LANG Settings in MS-DOS Mode and Batch Mode

When using Oracle utilities such as Server Manager, SQL Loader, SQL*Plus, Import, and Export in MS-DOS mode, the character set field of the NLS_LANG parameter for the session must first be set to the correct value. This is required because MS-DOS mode uses, with a few exceptions, a different code page (OEM 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 the NLS_LANG parameter for the MS-DOS mode session is not set appropriately, error messages and data can be corrupted due to incorrect character set conversion. The following table lists the Oracle character sets that correspond to the OEM Primary Code-page in MS-DOS mode for each of the supported languages.

Language	Character Set
Arabic	AR8ASMO8X
Brazilian Portuguese	WE8PC850
Catalan	WE8PC850
Czech	EE8PC852
Danish	WE8PC850
Dutch	WE8PC850
English	US8PC437
Finnish	WE8PC850
French	WE8PC850
German	WE8PC850
Greek	EL8PC737
Hungarian	EE8PC852
Italian	JA16SJIS
Japanese	JA16SJIS
Korean	KO16KSC5601
Latin American Spanish	WE8PC850
Norwegian	WE8PC850
Polish	EE8PC852
Portuguese	WE8PC850
Romanian	EE8PC852
Russian	RU8PC866
Simplified Chinese	ZHS16CGBK
Slovak	EE8PC852
Slovenian	EE8PC852
Spanish	WE8PC850
Swedish	WE8PC850
Traditional Chinese	ZHT16BIG5
Turkish	TR8PC857

 

For Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese, the OEM Code-page is identical to the ANSI Code-page. In this case, there is no need to set the NLS_LANG in MS-DOS mode.

Similarly, in Batch mode, set the correct character set value of the 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.

Installing Additional Languages

To install an additional language:

1. Run Oracle Installer.
2. Enter the language you want to install in the Oracle Installation Settings dialog box.
3. Install the Oracle products again.

This method keeps any language support that was previously installed and adds the new language.

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