In Oracle, Unicode characters can be stored in databases using Unicode character sets such as UTF-8 or UTF-16. To store Unicode characters in Oracle, you need to ensure that the database column is set to use a Unicode character set. This can be specified when creating the database table or altering the column using the ALTER TABLE
statement. Additionally, when inserting or updating data with Unicode characters, it is important to make sure that the client application, database connection, and database server all support Unicode encoding. This will ensure that the Unicode characters are stored and retrieved correctly.
What is the default character set for unicode in Oracle?
The default character set for Unicode in Oracle is AL32UTF8.
How to handle sorting and searching of unicode characters in Oracle?
To handle sorting and searching of Unicode characters in Oracle, you can follow these steps:
- Make sure your database character set supports Unicode. You can check this by running the following query:
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SELECT value FROM nls_database_parameters WHERE parameter = 'NLS_CHARACTERSET';
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If the value is AL32UTF8
or another Unicode character set, then your database supports Unicode.
- When creating tables and columns that will store Unicode data, always use the Unicode character set. You can do this by specifying the NCHAR or NVARCHAR2 data types:
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CREATE TABLE my_table ( id NUMBER, name NVARCHAR2(100) ); |
- When sorting Unicode data in queries, make sure to use the NLS_SORT parameter with a value of BINARY_CI for case-insensitive sorting or Linguistic for linguistic sorting. For example:
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SELECT * FROM my_table ORDER BY name COLLATE BINARY_CI;
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- When searching for Unicode data in queries, you can use the NLS_COMP parameter to specify the comparison method. Set it to LINGUISTIC for linguistic comparison, BINARY for binary comparison, or ANSI for ANSI comparison. For example:
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SELECT * FROM my_table WHERE name = 'unicode_value' COLLATE ANSI;
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By following these steps, you can ensure that Oracle can properly handle the sorting and searching of Unicode characters in your database.
What tools are available for managing unicode data in Oracle?
- SQL Developer: Oracle's SQL Developer tool includes support for working with Unicode data, including the ability to query and manipulate Unicode text.
- PL/SQL: Oracle's PL/SQL programming language includes support for working with Unicode data, allowing developers to write procedures and functions that process Unicode text.
- NLS (National Language Support): Oracle's NLS features include support for storing and retrieving Unicode data in various character sets, as well as converting between different character sets.
- Oracle Text: Oracle Text is a feature that allows users to index and search Unicode text data in Oracle databases.
- Oracle XML DB: Oracle XML DB includes support for storing and querying XML data, which may contain Unicode text.
- Oracle Data Pump: Oracle Data Pump is a tool for exporting and importing data between Oracle databases, including support for Unicode data.
- SQLLoader: SQLLoader is a utility for loading data into Oracle databases, which includes support for loading Unicode data.