Code Page Incompatibilities
When a character in one code page is unavailable on another and conversion occurs, the character is converted to its closest equivalent character in the other code page. For example, ASCII 156 (œ) in code page 1252 is converted to ASCII 111 (o) in code page 437 because this is the most similar character in the code page 437. When you convert this ANSI character back to code page 1252, the result is ASCII 111 (o) because ASCII 111 (o) exists in both code pages. The original 1252 character (œ) is lost. This means that incorrect data is saved in the database if the character exists in one code page but not the other, and Automatic ANSI to OEM conversion is turned on.
| Conversion | ANSI code page 1252 | OEM code page 437 |
|---|---|---|
| ANSI to OEM | œ (ASCII 156) | Does not exist. Substitutes o (ASCII 111). |
| OEM to ANSI | o (ASCII 111) | o (ASCII 111). |
When you save data on a server with a code page different from the code page that is used by the clients, be sure to test the data for accuracy. If possible, choose characters that convert easily between ANSI and OEM.