Alter session on NLS_DATE_FORMAT being ignored

[jmath]

I'm issuing an alter session setting NLS_DATE_FORMAT in a C batch
process right after the connection takes place. The format I specify
is YYYYMMDDHH24MISS, this is the format used all over the process. In
my development environment this works perfectly, but I've had problems
in other environments.

CASE A development environment: The process works fine, $NLS_LANG and
$NLS_DATE_FORMAT environment variables are not set.

CASE B Test envirnonment 1: The process failed.
$NLS_LANG=American_America.WE8ISO8859P1
$NLS_DATE_FORMAT environment variable is not set.
For some reason the $NLS_LANG variable seems to have more weight
than the alter session command.. why?
The process works fine after setting $NLS_DATE_FORMAT to the
desired format.

CASE C Test envirnonment 2: The process failed. $NLS_LANG and
$NLS_DATE_FORMAT environment variables are not set. Can't get it to
work here. Any idea why?

[techvinny]

Try checking the NLS_LANG of your database by running the following sql,

SELECT * from NLS_DATABASE_PARAMETERS WHERE parameter IN ( 'NLS_LANGUAGE', 'NLS_TERRITORY', 'NLS_CHARACTERSET');

And if you find them as NULL, you can try setting the values on them. To get the possible values for language, territory and characterset you can check the view V$NLS_VALID_VALUES.
– parameter – possible values LANGUAGE, TERRITORY, CHARACTERSET

SELECT parameter, value FROM V$NLS_VALID_VALUES;

Once you decide on the possible values, you can set NLS_LANG by using the export command.

HTH!!!