Using International Character Set Support
This document explains how to use international character sets with Teradata Vantage™ and includes information on:
- Client and server character sets
- Site-defined and extended site-defined client character sets
- Collation sequences
- Vantage character mapping
Why Would I Use this Content?
Use this content if you want to do the following:
- Load and retrieve data in their local character set
- Allow data to be exchanged through the database between different client character formats
- Set or change collation
Do I Use this Content?
- Look at the supported client character sets to determine the ones you need.
- Look at the server character set options to determine the appropriate option for your needs.
How Do I Get Started?
You must perform various setup tasks to enable and use character set options.
Tasks 1 through 3 are required on all systems. Other tasks are optional, based on system needs.
- Make sure you understand how the Vantage system handles character data. See Character Sets and Object Names.
- Determine whether you can use system character set defaults or if you need to configure character set options. See System Default Character Support.
- Review the object naming topic to understand the rules that determine which characters are valid in object names for your system. See Object Names.
- Select and enable the client character sets that you need:
- For information about the client character sets for which standard Teradata translation codes are available, see Client Character Set Options
- For information about enabling standard Teradata client character sets, see Using Standard Teradata Client Character Sets
- For information about database (server) character set defaults and options, including setup and usage instructions, see Server Character Sets
- If none of the Teradata-standard client character sets meets site needs, you can define a custom (site-defined) client character set:
- To create a simple variation of a Teradata standard client character set, see Site-Defined Client Character Sets
- To create an extended client character set with custom character mapping, see Extended Site-Defined Client Character Sets
- For information on default collation sequences and how to define and implement custom collation sequences, see Collation Sequences
- For detailed information on character conversion between client character sets and the server character set, including the option to define custom export widths for use during conversion to the client character set, see Character Conversion