has anyone encountered this with nls_length_semantics before. The issue that i'm having is someone changed the nls_length semantics to char and now we try to change the parameter but it still stays tha same on the session level. thus we are unable to change the table unless we specify the session level change. Any ideas consider this. SQL*Plus: Release 9.2.0.4.0 - Production on Fri May 21 07:36:26 2004 Copyright (c) 1982, 2002, Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved. Connected to: Oracle9i Enterprise Edition Release 9.2.0.4.0 - Production With the Partitioning and Oracle Data Mining options JServer Release 9.2.0.4.0 - Production SQL> @nls PARAMETER VALUE ---------------------------------------------------------------- NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS CHAR SQL> show parameter nls_length_semantics NAME TYPE VALUE ------------------------------------ ----------- ------------------------------ nls_length_semantics string CHAR now SQL> SQL> alter system set nls_length_semantics=byte scope=both; System altered. SQL> show parameter nls_length_semant NAME TYPE VALUE ------------------------------------ ----------- ------------------------------ nls_length_semantics string BYTE SQL> @nls PARAMETER ---------------------------------------------------------------- VALUE ---------------------------------------------------------------- NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS CHAR Session ---------------------------------------------------------------- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe send email to: oracle-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put 'unsubscribe' in the subject line. -- Archives are at //www.freelists.org/archives/oracle-l/ FAQ is at //www.freelists.org/help/fom-serve/cache/1.html -----------------------------------------------------------------