ISQL and Strange Characters

Question

ISQL and Strange Characters

SSC-Addicted

Points: 437

March 13, 2006 at 9:56 am

Hello,

I'm hoping someone can help me with the following problem.

We are using ISQL in a batch file to execute a lot of SQL files.

The problem we have is that some of the foreign characters are being

changed when inserting into the database;

e.g.

Benötigte Lieferungen

becomes

Ben÷tigte Lieferungen

If I open an indvidual SQL file in Query Analyzer and run it then the text in the database is correct.

Does anyone know why it doen't work when executed through a batch file?

Thanks for your help.

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vadba SSChampion Points: 11133 More actions · Answer 1

When you run a batch file, you are running it with cmd.exe, which supports a specific character set that is most likely different from the collation you are using with you SQL database. It could be that when the file is fed into isql from the batch file, the "conversion" occurs.

Try this to see the effect:

Save "Benötigte Lieferungen" to a file called data.txt

Open a command window (that is, run cmd.exe)

Execute this command: TYPE data.txt

On my PC, I see the same character display issue you mentioned.

Paula-129590 SSC-Addicted Points: 437 More actions · Answer 2

Thanks for your input. I tried the test you mentioned above & I got the text appearing correctly.

However, I have now found that using isqlw, instead of isql, works. It does not perform character conversion so now my database data looks exactly as it should.