A pluggable database (PDB) that is encoded using a particular character set (differing character set) may be plugged into a container database (CDB) and queried, even when the CDB in which the particular PDB resides is encoded using a different character set. The DBMS records what character set is used to encode the PDB. Any predicate that may prune results from a PDB that is encoded in a differing character set is converted to the differing character set as needed, such that the predicate may be applied within the PDB to prune results. At times, cross-container views will require data from a PDB that is encoded using a differing character set. The data returned from a recursive query over the PDB is converted to being encoded using the character set of the root database of the CDB.
