Changing Character Set Defaults - Teradata Database - Teradata Vantage NewSQL Engine

You can change the default client character set and the default server character set at the user level, and the user can choose alternatives during a session.

Default Client Character Set

If you do not define a client character set as the default for a client in the DBC.Hosts table, the automatic default is the character set native to that client.

During a session, you can find out which client character set is in effect with the SQL HELP SESSION statement and can specify a different (but active) client character set in various ways, depending on the particular client software. For example, with the BTEQ client software, you can use the SESSION CHARSET command:

.SET SESSION CHARSET ASCII

For details on when the SESSION CHARSET command can be used, see Basic Teradata® Query Reference, B035-2414.

Default Server Character Set

To specify the character set for a user, issue a CREATE USER or MODIFY USER request with the DEFAULT CHARACTER SET clause. If you do not specify this clause when you create or modify a user, the setting of the Default Character Set field in the DBS Control utility determines the default character set.

The default value for the Default Character Set field is 0 (Unicode) for Japanese Language Support mode and 1 (Latin) for Standard Language Support mode.