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NLS_INSTANCE_PARAMETERS, How and Why

What is NLS_INSTANCE_PARAMETERS ?

NLS_INSTANCE_PARAMETERS is a dictionary view which shows default NLS parameters of an instance. Let's see their values.

SQL> set pagesize 1000;
SQL> column parameter format a30;
SQL> column value format a30;
SQL> select * from nls_instance_parameters order by 1;

PARAMETER                      VALUE
------------------------------ ------------------------------
NLS_CALENDAR
NLS_COMP                       BINARY
NLS_CURRENCY
NLS_DATE_FORMAT
NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE
NLS_DUAL_CURRENCY
NLS_ISO_CURRENCY
NLS_LANGUAGE                   AMERICAN
NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS           BYTE
NLS_NCHAR_CONV_EXCP            FALSE
NLS_NUMERIC_CHARACTERS
NLS_SORT
NLS_TERRITORY                  AMERICA
NLS_TIMESTAMP_FORMAT
NLS_TIMESTAMP_TZ_FORMAT
NLS_TIME_FORMAT
NLS_TIME_TZ_FORMAT

17 rows selected.

Their values inherit from NLS_DATABASE_PARAMETERS initially.

How to Change NLS_INSTANCE_PARAMETERS ?

Only a part of NLS parameters can be changed at instance-level, we should use ALTER SYSTEM SET to change them.

SQL> alter system set NLS_TERRITORY=SWEDEN scope=spfile sid='*';

System altered.

SQL> alter system set NLS_LANGUAGE=SWEDISH scope=spfile sid='*';

System altered.

As you can see, we changed NLS_TERRITORY and NLS_LANGUAGE in this case.

After a restart, let's check the current NLS instance parameters.

SQL> select * from nls_instance_parameters order by 1;

PARAMETER                      VALUE
------------------------------ ------------------------------
NLS_CALENDAR
NLS_COMP                       BINARY
NLS_CURRENCY
NLS_DATE_FORMAT
NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE
NLS_DUAL_CURRENCY
NLS_ISO_CURRENCY
NLS_LANGUAGE                   SWEDISH
NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS           BYTE
NLS_NCHAR_CONV_EXCP            FALSE
NLS_NUMERIC_CHARACTERS
NLS_SORT
NLS_TERRITORY                  SWEDEN
NLS_TIME_FORMAT
NLS_TIMESTAMP_FORMAT
NLS_TIMESTAMP_TZ_FORMAT
NLS_TIME_TZ_FORMAT

17 rader valda.

To know the relationship between NLS_TERRITORY and NLS_LANGUAGE, there's a mapping table, it might be helpful to solve globalization problem.

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