Search Results get_default_linguistic_sort

Overview

SYS.UTL_I18N is the Oracle Globalization Development Kit (GDK) package supplied with the Oracle database and exposed to Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1.1 and 12.2.2 through the SYS schema. Its stated purpose, per the package header, is to allow developers to build multilingual applications with minimal knowledge of internationalization issues. In the EBS context, UTL_I18N provides the low-level character set conversion, locale mapping, transliteration, and XML/SQL name encoding services on which higher-level EBS globalization features depend. The package is classified as an "OTHER" API in ETRM, meaning it is not an EBS business API but a database-resident utility that EBS code, forms, and concurrent programs call. Within EBS 12.1.1 and 12.2.2, it is most commonly encountered when converting data between database character sets and national character sets, resolving Oracle locale names to ISO/IANA equivalents, and encoding SQL object names for XML output. The object referenced by the user search, ENCODE_SQL_XML, is one of the documented functions of this package.

Key Procedures and Functions

ETRM documents 26 callable units in this package. The principal ones are:

• ENCODE_SQL_XML — Encodes a SQL identifier as an XML tag or performs the reverse, controlled by the XMLTAG_TO_SQLNAME and SQLNAME_TO_XMLTAG constants declared in the package header.
• VALIDATE_SQLNAME — Verifies that a proposed SQL identifier conforms to naming rules.
• ESCAPE_REFERENCE and UNESCAPE_REFERENCE — Convert text to and from escaped reference (character entity) form for XML/HTML output.
• MAP_CHARSET — Maps a character set name between Oracle and IANA conventions.
• MAP_LANGUAGE_FROM_ISO, MAP_TERRITORY_FROM_ISO, MAP_LOCALE_TO_ISO — Translate ISO language, territory, and locale codes to Oracle equivalents.
• GET_DEFAULT_CHARSET, GET_DEFAULT_LINGUISTIC_SORT, GET_DEFAULT_ISO_CURRENCY — Return session- or database-level defaults for charset, linguistic sort, and currency.
• GET_LOCAL_LINGUISTIC_SORTS, GET_LOCAL_TIME_ZONES, GET_COMMON_TIME_ZONES, GET_LOCAL_TERRITORIES, GET_LOCAL_LANGUAGES — Return lists of locale-dependent values for the current session.
• TRANSLITERATE — Converts text between scripts using the transliteration constants (KANA_FWKATAKANA, HIRAGANA_HWKATAKANA, and others).
• STRING_TO_RAW, RAW_TO_CHAR, RAW_TO_NCHAR — Convert between string and RAW representations, including NCHAR variants.

Tables Accessed

The ETRM metadata for SYS.UTL_I18N lists no tables referenced through APPS synonyms. This is consistent with the package's design: it is a self-contained database utility that relies on internal NLS data structures and package constants rather than on EBS application tables. No DML is performed against EBS schema objects by this package.

Usage Notes

UTL_I18N is invoked from PL/SQL — typically custom EBS code, database triggers, or concurrent program logic — rather than from Oracle Forms directly. Typical EBS 12.1.1 / 12.2.2 use cases include generating XML output for interfaces and reports where SQL names must be encoded (ENCODE_SQL_XML), escaping user-entered text before embedding it in XML payloads (ESCAPE_REFERENCE), converting between AL32UTF8 and national character sets during data migration or integration, and resolving locale codes when building multi-language lookup queries. Because the package is owned by SYS and referenced by three other packages per the ETRM data, execute privileges are normally granted to PUBLIC, so custom code in the APPS schema can call it without additional grants. When calling ENCODE_SQL_XML, supply one of the documented mode constants (XMLTAG_TO_SQLNAME or SQLNAME_TO_XMLTAG) to select the direction of conversion.