NLS parameter overview

Various principles are used around the world for date and time management. Regional rules are applied, such as considering either Monday or Sunday the first day of the week, using a specific format for presenting date and time values (such as element delimiters), using specific time zones, and so on. To make a date and time system generalizable and applicable to any region by implementing local principles and rules, it is necessary to provide an interface that’s appropriate for the database, as well as the client side. And this is exactly where NLS parameters come onto the stage. These parameters can be set for the whole database, or each client can configure the parameters for themselves. Throughout the following sections, you will learn the proper definitions of individual parameters, values used, formats, and the impacts these have on the processing and output.

The following table shows a list of the individual parameters with their descriptions...