Delving into National Language Support Parameters

It is obvious that individual clients working with applications can be located anywhere in the world. It is therefore necessary to prepare the platform so that all clients can use their own customary rules and regional customs. National Language Support (NLS) parameters determine the locale-specific runtime behavior on clients and servers. They can be set either for the server instance, specified in the initialization file applied during the instance startup (INIT.ORA), or for the client via environment variables overriding the default (server) values. It is done by executing the alter session command. Additionally, the definition can be enhanced by the statement level.

NLS parameters enhance the processing by focusing on local definitions, regional specifics, and rules. This chapter mainly focuses on the parameters related to date and time management, but also summarizes the main principles in a general manner, including local language...