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<chapter id="charset">

<title>Localization</>

</row>

<row>

<entry><literal>SQL_ASCII</literal></entry>

<entry><acronym>ASCII</acronym></entry>

<entry>English</entry>

<entry>unspecified (see text)</entry>

<entry><emphasis>any</></entry>

<entry>1</entry>

<entry></entry>

</row>

<entry><literal>UTF8</literal></entry>

<entry>Unicode, 8-bit</entry>

<entry><emphasis>all</></entry>

<entry>1-3</entry>

<entry>1-4</entry>

<entry><literal>Unicode</></entry>

</row>

<row>

JDBC driver does not support <literal>MULE_INTERNAL</>, <literal>LATIN6</>,

<literal>LATIN8</>, and <literal>LATIN10</>.

</para>

<para>

The <literal>SQL_ASCII</> setting behaves considerably differently

from the other settings. When the server character set is

<literal>SQL_ASCII</>, the server interprets byte values 0-127

according to the ASCII standard, while byte values 128-255 are taken

as uninterpreted characters. No encoding conversion will be done when

the setting is <literal>SQL_ASCII</>. Thus, this setting is not so

much a declaration that a specific encoding is in use, as a declaration

of ignorance about the encoding. In most cases, if you are

working with any non-ASCII data, it is unwise to use the

<literal>SQL_ASCII</> setting, because

<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> will be unable to help you by

converting or validating non-ASCII characters.

</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>

</row>

<row>

<entry><literal>SQL_ASCII</literal></entry>

<entry><emphasis>SQL_ASCII</emphasis>,

<literal>MULE_INTERNAL</literal>,

<literal>UTF8</literal>

<entry><emphasis>any (no conversion will be performed)</emphasis>

</entry>

</row>

<row>

</table>

<para>

To enabletheautomatic character set conversion, you have to

To enable automatic character set conversion, you have to

tell <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> the character set

(encoding) you would like to use in the client. There are several

ways to accomplish this:

hexadecimal byte values in parentheses, e.g.,

<literal>(826C)</literal>.

</para>

<para>

If the client character set is defined as <literal>SQL_ASCII</>,

encoding conversion is disabled, regardless of the server's character

set. Just as for the server, use of <literal>SQL_ASCII</> is unwise

unless you are working with all-ASCII data.

</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>