# Setting the NLS\$1LANG value in RDS Custom for Oracle
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**Note**  
End of support notice: On March 31, 2027, AWS will end support for Amazon RDS Custom for Oracle. After March 31, 2027, you will no longer be able to access the RDS Custom for Oracle console or RDS Custom for Oracle resources. For more information, see [RDS Custom for Oracle end of support](RDS-Custom-for-Oracle-end-of-support.md).

A *locale* is a set of information addressing linguistic and cultural requirements that corresponds to a given language and country. To specify locale behavior for Oracle software, set the `NLS_LANG` environment variable on your client host. This variable sets the language, territory, and character set used by the client application in a database session.

For RDS Custom for Oracle, you can set only the language in the `NLS_LANG` variable: the territory and character use defaults. The language is used for Oracle database messages, collation, day names, and month names. Each supported language has a unique name, for example, American, French, or German. If language is not specified, the value defaults to American.

After you create your RDS Custom for Oracle database, you can set `NLS_LANG` on your client host to a language other than English. To see a list of languages supported by Oracle Database, log in to your RDS Custom for Oracle database and run the following query:

```
SELECT VALUE FROM V$NLS_VALID_VALUES WHERE PARAMETER='LANGUAGE' ORDER BY VALUE;
```

You can set `NLS_LANG` on the host command line. The following example sets the language to German for your client application using the Z shell on Linux.

```
export NLS_LANG=German
```

Your application reads the `NLS_LANG` value when it starts and then communicates it to the database when it connects.

For more information, see [Choosing a Locale with the NLS\$1LANG Environment Variable ](https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-database/21/nlspg/setting-up-globalization-support-environment.html#GUID-86A29834-AE29-4BA5-8A78-E19C168B690A) in the *Oracle Database Globalization Support Guide*.