Checking Character Set Compatibility

To check character set compatibility, run these commands on both the source and destination databases.

  1. Check the character set parameters:

    SQL> show parameter CHARACTER
NAME                      TYPE        VALUE
------------------------  ---------- ----------
nls_numeric_characters    string

  2. Retrieve character set properties

    SQL> SELECT * FROM database_properties WHERE PROPERTY_NAME IN ('NLS_CHARACTERSET','NLS_NCHAR_CHARACTERSET');
PROPERTY_NAME           PROPERTY_VALUE  DESCRIPTION
----------------------  -------------- ---------------------------
NLS_NCHAR_CHARACTERSET  AL16UTF16      NCHAR Character set
NLS_CHARACTERSET        WE8MSWIN1252   Character set

    This shows the character set settings for the database.

  3. Display NLS database parameters related to character set:

    SQL> SELECT * FROM nls_database_parameters WHERE parameter LIKE '%SET%';
PARAMETER               VALUE
----------------------  --------------
NLS_NCHAR_CHARACTERSET  AL16UTF16
NLS_CHARACTERSET        WE8MSWIN1252

    Verify that the character sets are compatible between the source and target databases.

Note:

If the character sets are not compatible, then review the Oracle Database documentation for supported migration or conversion procedures.

Parent topic: Migrating Oracle Database