Setting and Changing Collations

SQL Server 2005 collations can be specified at any level. When you install an instance of SQL Server 2005, you specify the default collation for that instance. Each time that you create a database, you can specify the default collation used for the database. If you do not specify a collation, the default collation for the database is the default collation for the instance. Whenever you define a character column, variable, or parameter, you can specify the collation of the object. If you do not specify a collation, the object is created by using the default collation of the database.

The following topics explain how to work with collations at the server, database, column, expression, and identifier levels:

See Also

Concepts

Working with Collations

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance