Comments on: NLS_LIST_SEPARATOR

By: Laurent Schneider

Laurent Schneider — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 14:28:34 +0000

well, I saw that, but it is a Oracle 7.2 new feature, way before ias…

By: apc

apc — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 10:19:00 +0000

Given where this crops up in the documentation – iAS Reports – I think this is a parameter that’s only relevant (and hence changeable) in an app server install. Not having access to such a beast I am unable to confirm this.

Cheers, APC

By: Laurent Schneider

Laurent Schneider — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 08:43:30 +0000

it is even worst, the info on metalink is simply wrong Note 251044.1 The parameters which can be set like this, are all the NLS session parameters: ... NLS_LIST_SEPARATOR !!!

By: Francois Degrelle

Francois Degrelle — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 15:59:55 +0000

Well, I am not able to find anything, even on Metalink !

By: Laurent Schneider

Laurent Schneider — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 11:03:51 +0000

of course not !
NLS_LIST_SEPARATOR can be used only as an environment variable (like NLS_LANG) and a function accepting a variable number of arguments is not a list

SCOTT@LSC01> alter session set nls_list_separator=’.';
alter session set nls_list_separator=’.’
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00922: missing or invalid option

f(a,b,c) –> a,b,c is not a “LIST”, the comma is a SQL syntax element and can never be changed!

similary to_number(’2,4′) may work, but to_char(2,4) will definitely not work.

NLS_LIST_SEPARATOR may affect the output of a string, but I wonder in which circumstances

By: Francois Degrelle

Francois Degrelle — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 08:40:59 +0000

Laurent,
Try to change the value with ALTER SESSION SET NLS_LIST_SEPARATOR=…, then use this new separator in an instruction like GREATEST for example…

By: Laurent Schneider

Laurent Schneider — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 07:06:37 +0000

well, this I can read in the doc. Anyone providing an example?

PS: apologize for multiposting…

By: Eddie Awad

Eddie Awad — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 22:01:24 +0000

Francois Degrelle answered this question here:

NLS_LIST_SEPARATOR specifies the character to use to separate values in
a list of values (usually , or . or ; or :). Its default value is
derived from the value of NLS_TERRITORY. For example, a list of numbers
from 1 to 5 can be expressed as 1,2,3,4,5 or 1.2.3.4.5 or 1;2;3;4;5 or
1:2:3:4:5.

The character specified must be single-byte and cannot be the same as
either the numeric or monetary decimal character, any numeric
character, or any of the following characters: plus (+), hyphen (-),
less than sign, greater than sign, period (.).