---
title: "Oracle Compatibility Mode"
id: ecpg-oracle-compat
pg_version: "20devel"
---

<a id="ecpg-oracle-compat"></a>

## 34.16. Oracle Compatibility Mode

`ecpg` can be run in a so-called *Oracle compatibility mode*. If this mode is active, it tries to behave as if it were Oracle Pro*C. 

Specifically, this mode changes `ecpg` in three ways: 
-  Pad character arrays receiving character string types with trailing spaces to the specified length 
-  Zero byte terminate these character arrays, and set the indicator variable if truncation occurs 
-  Set the null indicator to `-1` when character arrays receive empty character string types