Re: Changing a Database Character Set

To change the database character set is relatively easy to do but very dangerous.
I will explain the way to change from character set OLD_CS to NEW_CS.

OLD_CS -> NEW_CS.

1. Do the query to know what kind of national language your DB uses. sql> column c1 format a30 sql> select name c1, value$ c1 from sys.props$;
2. Check the character set B is supported in your DB. sql> select convert ('a', 'NEW_CS', 'OLD_CS') from dual;
3. Do the following sql statement to update the character set. update sys.props$ set value$ = 'NEW_CS' where name = 'NLS_CHARACTERSET';
4. Check the conversion has been done right. select name, value$ from sys.props$ where value$ = 'B'
5. commit;
6. Shutdown and startup DB again.

Be careful !!
If there is some errors and you do not change exactly, DB will not startup again. Received on Wed Apr 08 1998 - 21:43:25 CDT