NLS_SORT

Parameter type	String
Syntax	NLS_SORT = {BINARY | linguistic_definition}
Default value	Derived from NLS_LANGUAGE
Parameter class	Dynamic: ALTER SESSION
Range of values	BINARY or any valid linguistic definition name

NLS_SORT specifies the collating sequence for ORDER BY queries.

• If the value is BINARY, then the collating sequence for ORDER BY queries is based on the numeric value of characters (a binary sort that requires less system overhead).
• If the value is a named linguistic sort, sorting is based on the order of the defined linguistic sort. Most (but not all) languages supported by the NLS_LANGUAGE parameter also support a linguistic sort with the same name.

  Note: Setting NLS_SORT to anything other than BINARY causes a sort to use a full table scan, regardless of the path chosen by the optimizer. BINARY is the exception because indexes are built according to a binary order of keys. Thus the optimizer can use an index to satisfy the ORDER BY clause when NLS_SORT is set to BINARY. If NLS_SORT is set to any linguistic sort, the optimizer must include a full table scan and a full sort in the execution plan.

You must use the NLS_SORT operator with comparison operations if you want the linguistic sort behavior.