Globalization Support Information in the Data Dictionary

You can obtain information about the settings for NLS database parameters and character sets from the data dictionary using V$NLS_ parameter views. These views are available regardless of the NLS settings of your database; however, they are only truly relevant and useful under the multilingual conditions.

V$NLS_PARAMETERS

To view the database and national character set information, you could easily run the following query:

 SELECT parameter, value FROM nls_database_parameters WHERE parameter like '%CHARACTERS%'; 

You would have returned the NLS_CHARACTERSET and the NLS_NCHAR_CHARACTERSET and the values for each of those parameters.

V$NLS_PARAMETERS provides the current values that are set for each of the National Language Support parameters in the database.

V$NLS_VALID_VALUES

V$NLS_VALID_VALUES provides all the valid values that each NLS parameter can take.

But where would a DBA be without access to utilities, the backbone of your daily life? Globalization provides an extended set of utilities that we will cover next.