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Reason why oracle is case sensitive?

Asked 2011-09-15T02:18:26.580
55

Is there a reason why Oracle is case sensitive and others like SQL Server, and MySQL are not by default?

I know that there are ways to enable/disable case sensitivity, but it just seems weird that oracle differs from other databases.

I'm also trying to understand reasons for case sensitivity. I can see where "Table" and "TaBlE" can be considered equivalent and not equivalent, but is there an example where case sensitivity would actually make a difference?

I'm somewhat new to databases and am currently taking a class.

oracle-database database-design case-sensitive
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2 Answers

11

Oracle actually treats field and table names in a case-insensitive manner unless you use quotes around identifiers. If you create a table without quotes around the name, for example CREATE MyTable..., the resulting table name will be converted to upper case (i.e. MYTABLE) and will be treated in a case insensitive manner. SELECT * from MYTABLE, SELECT * from MyTable, SELECT * from myTabLe will all match MYTABLE (note the lack of quotes around the table name). Here is a nice article on this issue that discusses this issue in more detail and compares databases.

answered 2011-09-23T03:09:23.510
0

For some applications case-sensitivity is important and for others it isn't. Whichever DBMS you use, business requirements should determine whether you need case-senitivity or not. I wouldn't worry too much about the "default".

answered 2011-09-15T08:18:46.250

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