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Oracle® Database Installation Guide 10g Release 2 (10.2) for Microsoft Windows (64-Bit) on Intel Itanium Part Number B14317-02 |
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# D Configuring Oracle Database Globalization Support

This appendix describes the following Globalization Support topics:

- Installing and Using Oracle Components in Different Languages

- Configuring Locale and Character Sets with the NLS_LANG Parameter

## D.1 Installing and Using Oracle Components in Different Languages

This section describes the following features:

- Running Oracle Universal Installer in Different Languages

- Using Oracle Components in Different Languages

### D.1.1 Running Oracle Universal Installer in Different Languages

Oracle Universal Installer runs by default in the selected language of your operating system. You can run Oracle Universal Installer in the following additional languages:

- Brazilian Portuguese

- German

- Japanese

- Simplified Chinese

- Traditional Chinese

- French

- Italian

- Korean

- Spanish

To run Oracle Universal Installer in a different language:

1. Change the language in which your operating system is running: From the Start menu, select Settings, and then Control Panel. In the Control Panel, select Regional and Language Options.

2. Run Oracle Universal Installer by following the instructions in the "Installing the Oracle Database Software" section.

   Note: The selected language is assigned to the `NLS_LANG` registry parameter.

### D.1.2 Using Oracle Components in Different Languages

You can select other languages in which to use Oracle components (such as Oracle Net Configuration Assistant and Oracle Database Configuration Assistant). Note that this does not change the language in which Oracle Universal Installer is run. For the Oracle component to run in the selected language, it must be the same as the language set for your operating system. You can change your operating system language in the Regional Settings window from the Control Panel.

To use components in different languages:

1. Follow the instructions in the "Installing the Oracle Database Software" section to start Oracle Universal Installer.

2. In the Select Installation Type window, click the Product Languages button.

   The Language Selection window appears.

3. Select a language in which to use Oracle components from the Available Languages field.

4. Use the arrow (>) to move the language to the Selected Languages field, and click OK.

5. Select the appropriate products for your installation and click Next.

   After the installation is complete, the dialog box wording, messages, and online Help for the installed components will display in the language that you selected.

## D.2 Configuring Locale and Character Sets with the NLS_LANG Parameter

This section covers the following topics:

- About the NLS_LANG Parameter

- Default Values for NLS_LANG

- NLS_LANG Settings in MS-DOS Mode and Batch Mode

### D.2.1 About the NLS_LANG Parameter

Oracle provides Globalization Support that enables users to interact with a database in their preferred locale and character set settings, as defined by the `NLS_LANG` parameter. When you install Oracle Database 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 D-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\HOME` `ID``\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:

- `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`: Specifies the encoding of the database client, which is the character set for data entered or displayed by a client program.

Caution: AL32UTF8 is the Oracle Database character set that is appropriate for XMLType data. It is equivalent to the IANA registered standard UTF-8 encoding, which supports all valid XML characters. Do not confuse Oracle Database database character set UTF8 (no hyphen) with database character set AL32UTF8 or with character encoding UTF-8. Database character set UTF8 has been superseded by AL32UTF8. Do not use UTF8 for XML data. UTF8 supports only Unicode version 3.1 and earlier; it does not support all valid XML characters. AL32UTF8 has no such limitation. Using database character set UTF8 for XML data could cause a fatal error or affect security negatively. If a character that is not supported by the database character set appears in an input-document element name, a replacement character (usually a question mark) is substituted for it. This will terminate parsing and raise an exception.

See Also: Oracle Database Platform Guide for Microsoft Windows (32-Bit) for more information about the subkey locations for multiple Oracle homes Oracle Database Platform Guide for Microsoft Windows (64-Bit) on Intel Itanium for more information about the subkey locations for multiple Oracle homes Oracle Database Platform Guide for Microsoft Windows (x64) for more information about the subkey locations for multiple Oracle homes Oracle Database Globalization Support Guide for information about the `NLS_LANG` parameter and Globalization Support initialization parameters

### D.2.2 Default Values for NLS_LANG

Table D-1 lists the default `NLS_LANG` values for various Windows locales.

Table D-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_RUSSIA.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`

### D.2.3 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 D-2 lists the Oracle character sets that correspond to the MS-DOS mode for various operating system locales.

Table D-2 Oracle Character Sets for Operating System Locales

Operating System Locale | Character Set
--- | ---
Arabic | `AR8ASMO8X`
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`

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