mysqli
PHP Manual

mysqli::set_charset

mysqli_set_charset

Sets the client character set

Description

Object-oriented style

public bool mysqli::set_charset(string $charset)

Procedural style

bool mysqli_set_charset(mysqli $mysql, string $charset)

Sets the character set to be used when sending data from and to the database server.

Parameters

mysql

Procedural style only: A mysqli object returned by mysqli_connect or mysqli_init

charset

The desired character set.

Return Values

Returns true on success or false on failure.

Errors/Exceptions

If mysqli error reporting is enabled (MYSQLI_REPORT_ERROR) and the requested operation fails, a warning is generated. If, in addition, the mode is set to MYSQLI_REPORT_STRICT, a mysqli_sql_exception is thrown instead.

Examples

Example #1 mysqli::set_charset example

Object-oriented style

<?php

mysqli_report(MYSQLI_REPORT_ERROR | MYSQLI_REPORT_STRICT);
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "my_user", "my_password", "test");

printf("Initial character set: %s\n", $mysqli->character_set_name());

/* change character set to utf8mb4 */
$mysqli->set_charset("utf8mb4");

printf("Current character set: %s\n", $mysqli->character_set_name());

Procedural style

<?php

mysqli_report(MYSQLI_REPORT_ERROR | MYSQLI_REPORT_STRICT);
$link = mysqli_connect('localhost', 'my_user', 'my_password', 'test');

printf("Initial character set: %s\n", mysqli_character_set_name($link));

/* change character set to utf8mb4 */
mysqli_set_charset($link, "utf8mb4");

printf("Current character set: %s\n", mysqli_character_set_name($link));

The above examples will output something similar to:

Initial character set: latin1
Current character set: utf8mb4

Notes

Note:

This is the preferred way to change the charset. Using mysqli_query to set it (such as SET NAMES utf8) is not recommended. See the MySQL character set concepts section for more information.

See Also