For applications that store data using the default MySQL character set and collation (latin1, latin1_swedish_ci), no special configuration should be needed. If applications require data storage using a different character set or collation, you can configure character set information several ways:

When different applications require different character settings, the per-database technique provides a good deal of flexibility. If most or all applications use the same character set, specifying character settings at server startup or configuration time may be most convenient.

For the per-database or server-startup techniques, the settings control the character set for data storage. Applications must also tell the server which character set to use for client/server communications, as described in the following instructions.

The examples shown here assume use of the utf8 character set and utf8_general_ci collation.

Specify character settings per database. To create a database such that its tables will use a given default character set and collation for data storage, use a CREATE DATABASE statement like this:

CREATE DATABASE mydb
  DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8
  DEFAULT COLLATE utf8_general_ci;

Tables created in the database will use utf8 and utf8_general_ci by default for any character columns.

Applications that use the database should also configure their connection to the server each time they connect. This can be done by executing a SET NAMES 'utf8' statement after connecting. The statement can be used regardless of connection method: The mysql client, PHP scripts, and so forth.

In some cases, it may be possible to configure the connection to use the desired character set some other way. For example, for connections made using mysql, you can specify the --default-character-set=utf8 command-line option to achieve the same effect as SET NAMES 'utf8'.

For more information about configuring client connections, see Section 9.1.4, “Connection Character Sets and Collations”.

Specify character settings at server startup. To select a character set and collation at server startup, use the --character-set-server and --collation-server options. For example, to specify the options in an option file, include these lines:

[mysqld]
character-set-server=utf8
collation-server=utf8_general_ci

These settings apply server-wide and apply as the defaults for databases created by any application, and for tables created in those databases.

It is still necessary for applications to configure their connection using SET NAMES or equivalent after they connect, as described previously. You might be tempted to start the server with the --init_connect="SET NAMES 'utf8'" option to cause SET NAMES to be executed automatically for each client that connects. However, this will yield inconsistent results because the init_connect value is not executed for users who have the SUPER privilege.

Specify character settings at MySQL configuration time. To select a character set and collation when you configure and build MySQL from source, use the DEFAULT_CHARSET and DEFAULT_COLLATION options for CMake:

shell> cmake . -DDEFAULT_CHARSET=utf8 \
           -DDEFAULT_COLLATION=utf8_general_ci

The resulting server uses utf8 and utf8_general_ci as the default for databases and tables and for client connections. It is unnecessary to use --character-set-server and --collation-server to specify those defaults at server startup. It is also unnecessary for applications to configure their connection using SET NAMES or equivalent after they connect to the server.

Regardless of how you configure the MySQL character set for application use, you must also consider the environment within which those applications execute. If you will send statements using UTF-8 text taken from a file that you create in an editor, you should edit the file with the locale of your environment set to UTF-8 so that the file encoding is correct and so that the operating system handles it correctly. If you use the mysql client from within a terminal window, the window must be configured to use UTF-8 or characters may not display properly. For a script that executes in a Web environment, the script must handle character encoding properly for its interaction with the MySQL server, and it must generate pages that correctly indicate the encoding so that browsers know how to display the content of the pages. For example, you can include this <meta> tag within your <head> element:

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />