Specifying the Default Character Set

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DEFAULT CHARACTER SET allows you to optionally set the default character set for the database. The character set determines:

• What characters can be used in CHAR, VARCHAR, and BLOB text columns.
• The default collation order that is used in sorting a column.

Choosing a default character set is useful for all databases, even those where international use is not an issue. Choice of character set determines if transliteration among character sets is possible. For example, the following statement creates a database that uses the ISO8859_1 character set, typically used in Europe to support European languages:

CREATE DATABASE 'employee.ib'
 DEFAULT CHARACTER SET 'ISO8859_1';

For a list of the international character sets and collation orders that InterBase supports, see Character Sets and Collation Orders.