Oracle Setting the NLS_LANG Environment Tips

Determine the NLS_LANG value.
    In the data warehouse database, run the command 

SELECT * FROM V$NLS_PARAMETERS
    Make a note of the NLS_LANG value, which is in the format [NLS_LANGUAGE]_[NLS_TERRITORY].[NLS_CHARACTERSET].

    For example: American_America.UTF8
For Windows:
    Navigate to Control Panel > System and click the Advanced tab. Click Environment Variables.
    In System variables section, click New.
    In the Variable Name field, enter NLS_LANG.
    In the Variable Value field, enter the NLS_LANG value that was returned in Step 1.

    The format for the NLS_LANG value should be [NLS_LANGUAGE]_[NLS_TERRITORY].[NLS_CHARACTERSET].

    For example: American_America.UTF8.
For UNIX, set the variable as shown below:

setenv NLS_LANG <NLS_LANG>

NLS_LANG <NLS_LANGUAGE>_<NLS_TERRITORY>.WE8ISO8859P1

CAUTION:  Make sure you set the NLS_LANG variable correctly, as stated in this procedure, or your data will not display correctly.
Reboot the machine after creating the variable. 	

select DECODE(parameter, 'NLS_CHARACTERSET', 'CHARACTER SET',
'NLS_LANGUAGE', 'LANGUAGE',
'NLS_TERRITORY', 'TERRITORY') name,
value from v$nls_parameters
WHERE parameter IN ( 'NLS_CHARACTERSET', 'NLS_LANGUAGE', 'NLS_TERRITORY')
/

export NLS_LANG=<language>_<territory>.<character set>