Contains one row for each character set and sort order defined for use by SQL Server. One of the sort orders is marked in sysconfigures as the default sort order, which is the only one actually in use.
| Column | Datatype | Description |
|---|---|---|
| type | smallint | Type of entity this row represents. 1001 is a character set, 2001 is a sort order. |
| id | tinyint | Unique ID for the character set or sort order. Note that sort orders and character sets cannot share the same ID number. ID numbers 0 through 200 are reserved. |
| csid | tinyint | If the row represents a character set, this field is unused. If the row represents a sort order, this field is the ID of the character set that sort order is built on. It is assumed that a character set row with this ID exists in this table. |
| status | smallint | Internal system status information bits. |
| name | varchar(30) | Unique name for the character set or sort order. This field must contain only the letters A-Z or a-z, digits 0 - 9, and underscores(_). It must begin with a letter. |
| description | varchar(255) | Optional description of the features of the character set or sort order. |
| definition | image | Internal definition of the character set or sort order. The structure of the data in this field depends on the type. |
csyscharsets clustered, unique on id
ncsyscharsets nonclustered, unique located on name
| sp_helpsort |