NLS

NLS (National Language Support) is used to define national date, number, currency and language settings. For example, it can be used to change the currency symbol from $ to € (Euro); the language from English to Dutch, etc.

NLS parameters

To see what NLS parameters are in effect, perform the below queries -

Client parameters (change with ALTER SESSION):

SELECT * FROM nls_session_parameters;

Instance parameters (change with ALTER SYSTEM):

SELECT * FROM nls_instance_parameters;

Database parameters (set during database creation):

SELECT * FROM nls_database_parameters;

Note that session parameters take precedence over instance and database parameters. Instance parameters take precedence over database parameters.

Also see

• NLS_LANG, environment variable used to change the client's locale

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