String 

NLS_CALENDAR = "calendar_system" 

Dynamic. Scope = ALTER SESSION. 

None 

Any valid calendar format name 

NLS_CALENDAR specifies which calendar system Oracle uses. It can have one of the following values:

• Arabic Hijrah

• English Hijrah

• Gregorian

• Japanese Imperial

• Persian

• ROC Official (Republic of China)

• Thai Buddha

For example, suppose NLS_CALENDAR is set to "Japanese Imperial", the date format is "E YY-MM-DD". ("E" is the date format element for the abbreviated era name.) If the date is May 15, 1997, then the SYSDATE is displayed as follows:

SELECT SYSDATE FROM DUAL;
SYSDATE
--------
H 09-05-15 

See Also: Oracle8i National Language Support Guide for a listing of available calendar systems.