Certain character set options are enabled by default during initial system setup.
Teradata clients must use a character set for which translation codes are enabled on the Teradata Database system. The translation codes convert client character data to the applicable default server character set.
Upon installation of Teradata client software, translation codes for the following client character sets are automatically and permanently enabled:
Note: Depending on the client character set you choose, some configuration may be required. See Chapter 3: “Using Standard Teradata Client Character Sets.”
Each Teradata Database system is configured for a language support mode as part of sysinit:
The language support mode determines the default server character set, which in turn determines which character set is used to store data.
IF you enable this language support mode … |
Teradata Database stores object names using … |
and the user default server character set is… |
Standard |
UNICODE |
LATIN |
Japanese |
UNICODE |
UNICODE |
The default server character set also determines which client character sets are supported. “Client Character Set Compatibility with Server Character Sets” on page 23.
You can override the global default server character set associated with the language mode by specifying a default server character set for specific users or table columns.
For details about server character set options, see Chapter 4: “Server Character Sets.”
Enabling the Language Support Mode
During the sysinit process, at the following prompt appears:
Enable Japanese language support?
To optimize the database for Japanese language support, answer YES. Otherwise, answer NO.
If you answer NO, the Teradata Database uses standard language support.
Determining the Current Language Support Mode
To determine the current language support mode on your system, enter this command:
SELECT * FROM dbc.dbcinfoV WHERE infokey = 'LANGUAGE SUPPORT MODE';
For Japanese systems, the system returns:
*** Query completed. One row found. One column returned.
*** Total elapsed time was 1 second.
InfoData
--------------------------------------
Japanese
For Non-Japanese systems, the system returns:
*** Query completed. One row found. One column returned.
*** Total elapsed time was 1 second.
InfoData
--------------------------------------
Standard
If you enable standard language support, then by default Teradata Database stores:
Note: You can override the global data storage default by specifying a different default character set for individual users and table columns. See “Specifying the Default Server Character Set” on page 62.
For the standard language support mode, the default server character set for user DBC is also LATIN.
About Standard Language LATIN Character Coding
Standard language support provides Teradata Database internal coding for the entire set of printable characters from the ISO 8859-1 (Latin1) and ISO 8859-15 (Latin9) standard, including diacritical marks such as ä, ñ, Ÿ, Œ, and œ, though the Z with caron in Latin9 is not supported. ASCII control characters are also supported for the standard language set.
For a definition of the Teradata LATIN character set used to represent ASCII and EBCDIC characters, see “LATIN Server Character Set” on page 62.
Compatible Languages
The LATIN server character set used in standard language support mode is sufficient to support the following languages.
International Languages That are Compatible with Standard Language Support |
|||
Albanian |
English |
Germanic |
Portuguese |
Basque |
Estonian |
Greenlandic |
Rhaeto-Romantic |
Breton |
Faroese |
Icelandic |
Romance |
Catalonian |
Finnish |
Irish Gaelic |
Samoan |
Celtic |
French |
Italian |
Scottish Gaelic |
Cornish |
Frisian |
Latin |
Spanish |
Danish |
Galician |
Luxemburgish |
Swahili |
Dutch |
German |
Norwegian |
Swedish |
Note: For support of languages not shown in the preceding table, the server character set should be set either:
If you enable Japanese language support, by default Teradata Database stores:
In Japanese Language Mode, the default server character set for user DBC is UNICODE.
Note: The default server character set from user DBC (UNICODE) is inherited when the Teradata SQL DATABASE statement is used to change the default database.
About Using UNICODE to Store User Data
Unicode is a 16-bit encoding of virtually all characters in all current international languages. User data stored as Unicode can be easily shared among clients that use diverse character sets.
For more information about Teradata support for UNICODE, see “UNICODE Server Character Set” on page 64.