DEFAULT_ISQL_ENCODING option [DBISQL]

Specifies the code page that should be used by READ and OUTPUT statements.

identifier or string

Use system code page (empty string)

Can only be set as a temporary option, for the duration of the current connection.

DEFAULT_ISQL_ENCODING option is used to specify the code page to use when reading or writing files. It cannot be set permanently. The default code page is the default code page for the platform you are running on. On English Windows machines, the default code page is 1252.

Interactive SQL determines the code page that is used for a particular OUTPUT or READ statement as follows, where code page values occurring earlier in the list take precedence over those occurring later in the list:

• The code page specified in the ENCODING clause of the OUTPUT or READ statement

• The code page specified with the DEFAULT_ISQL_ENCODING option (if this option is set)

• The code page specified with the -codepage command line option when Interactive SQL was started

• The default code page for the computer Interactive SQL is running on

For a list of supported code pages, see “Supported and alternate collations” in SQL Anywhere Server – Database Administration > Configuring Your Database > International languages and character sets > Character set and collation reference information.

Set the encoding to UTF-16 (for reading Unicode files):

SET TEMPORARY OPTION DEFAULT_ISQL_ENCODING = 'UTF-16'