When making a request to the database, an SQL statement can be represented using any client character set that is available on the client and enabled in the database, including user-defined character sets.
Character Data
The system converts the SQL into UNICODE, and then converts any character literals from UNICODE to the data type of any column into which they are inserted.
If you enter data by way of a USING clause, the system stores the data based on the session character set, either LATIN, UNICODE, or KANJI1. As with any character data, if inserted into a character column, the USING data is implicitly translated to the character set of the receiving column.
If you create a character column, for example in a CREATE TABLE statement, and no character set is explicitly designated for the column, the column is created using the default character set.
Setting the Default Server Character Set
- A user in a CREATE or MODIFY USER
- Profile members in a CREATE or MODIFY PROFILE statement
Related Topics
- Available character sets and enabling character set options, see Teradata Vantage™ - Advanced SQL Engine International Character Set Support, B035-1125.
- Notation used for characters is described in the "Overview" topic in Notation Conventions.