SQLplus can't display French characters

Aaron L.

I was able to get some French and Spanish in our database, but SQLplus can't display the different (than my American English) characters.

I'm using SQLplus 19.0.0 on a 19.10.0.0.0 database. The database character set is WE8ISO8859P1.

SQL Developer reads if fine.

Example in French:

SQL Developer: APPUIE-TÊTE

SQLplus: APPUIE-T╩TE

Spanish:

SQL Developer: ÚNICAMENTE PARA

SQLplus: ┌NICAMENTE

On my Windows 10 machine (not the cloud server that has the db), I did what something on StackOverflow said and typed the following in a cmd prompt:

set NLS_LANG=AMERICAN_AMERICA.WE8ISO8859P1

Then ran sqlplus from that same command window. Still didn't work.

Solomon Yakobson

Make sure codepage is set to one that supports French/Spanish. For example:

I:\>chcp
Active code page: 437

I:\>sqlplus [email protected]

SQL*Plus: Release 12.2.0.1.0 Production on Fri Oct 22 18:52:51 2021

Copyright (c) 1982, 2016, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Enter password:
Last Successful login time: Fri Oct 22 2021 18:49:29 -04:00

Connected to:
Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production

SQL> select 'APPUIE-TÊTE' french,'ÚNICAMENTE PARA' spanish from dual;

FRENCH      SPANISH
----------- ---------------
APPUIE-TETE UNICAMENTE PARA

SQL> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production

I:\>chcp 1252
Active code page: 1252

I:\>sqlplus [email protected]

SQL*Plus: Release 12.2.0.1.0 Production on Fri Oct 22 18:49:26 2021

Copyright (c) 1982, 2016, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Enter password:
Last Successful login time: Fri Oct 22 2021 14:09:18 -04:00

Connected to:
Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production

SQL> select 'APPUIE-TÊTE' french,'ÚNICAMENTE PARA' spanish from dual;

FRENCH       SPANISH
------------ ----------------
APPUIE-TÊTE  ÚNICAMENTE PARA

SQL>

SY.

Mike Kutz

I don't think the single byte WE8ISO8859P1 supports multibyte French or Spanish Characters.

I'm not sure if that would cause the difference. The problem might stem from your client OS or font used for terminal.

IMO - you should take the time to convert the DB to UTF8. Especially if your data needs to support multiple languages.

Solomon Yakobson

Make sure codepage is set to one that supports French/Spanish. For example:

I:\>chcp
Active code page: 437

I:\>sqlplus [email protected]

SQL*Plus: Release 12.2.0.1.0 Production on Fri Oct 22 18:52:51 2021

Copyright (c) 1982, 2016, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Enter password:
Last Successful login time: Fri Oct 22 2021 18:49:29 -04:00

Connected to:
Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production

SQL> select 'APPUIE-TÊTE' french,'ÚNICAMENTE PARA' spanish from dual;

FRENCH      SPANISH
----------- ---------------
APPUIE-TETE UNICAMENTE PARA

SQL> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production

I:\>chcp 1252
Active code page: 1252

I:\>sqlplus [email protected]

SQL*Plus: Release 12.2.0.1.0 Production on Fri Oct 22 18:49:26 2021

Copyright (c) 1982, 2016, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Enter password:
Last Successful login time: Fri Oct 22 2021 14:09:18 -04:00

Connected to:
Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production

SQL> select 'APPUIE-TÊTE' french,'ÚNICAMENTE PARA' spanish from dual;

FRENCH       SPANISH
------------ ----------------
APPUIE-TÊTE  ÚNICAMENTE PARA

SQL>

SY.

GregV

Hi,

In addition to what has been said, sometimes it's also necessary to change the police from the Command Prompt properties.

For example, you can change the font to Lucida Console.