What does 'nls' in nls_date_format stand for?

For example:

alter session set nls_date_format = 'DD-MON-YYYY hh24:mi:ss';

changes the date format for the session.

What is nls here?

The Oracle Concepts Guide for 11.2 says the following (The note is of particular interest):


Globalization Support Environment


The globalization support environment
includes the client application and
the database. You can control
language-dependent operations by
setting parameters and environment
variables on the client and server,
which may exist in separate locations.


Note: In previous releases, Oracle
referred to globalization support
capabilities as National Language
Support (NLS) features. NLS is
actually a subset of globalization
support and provides the ability to
choose a national language and store
data in a specific character set.


Oracle Database provides globalization
support for features such as:



-
Native languages and territories

-
Local formats for date, time,
numbers, and currency

-
Calendar systems (Gregorian,
Japanese, Imperial, Thai Buddha, and
so on)

-
Multiple character sets,
including Unicode

-
Character semantics

StackExchange Database Administrators Q#1523, answer score: 9