How to convert an entire MySQL database characters

Question

How can I convert entire MySQL database character-set to UTF-8 and collation to UTF-8?

Answer 1

Before proceeding, ensure that you: Have completed a full database backup!

Step 1: Database Level Changes

• Identifying the Collation and Character set of your database

  SELECT DEFAULT_CHARACTER_SET_NAME, DEFAULT_COLLATION_NAME FROM 
  information_schema.SCHEMATA S
  WHERE schema_name = 'your_database_name'
  AND
  (DEFAULT_CHARACTER_SET_NAME != 'utf8'
      OR
   DEFAULT_COLLATION_NAME not like 'utf8%');
  

• Fixing the collation for the database

  ALTER DATABASE databasename CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci;
  

Step 2: Table Level Changes

• Identifying Database Tables with the incorrect character set or collation

  SELECT CONCAT(
  'ALTER TABLE ',  table_name, ' CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;  ', 
  'ALTER TABLE ',  table_name, ' CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;  ')
  FROM information_schema.TABLES AS T, information_schema.`COLLATION_CHARACTER_SET_APPLICABILITY` AS C
  WHERE C.collation_name = T.table_collation
  AND T.table_schema = 'your_database_name'
  AND
  (C.CHARACTER_SET_NAME != 'utf8'
      OR
   C.COLLATION_NAME not like 'utf8%')
  

• Adjusting table columns' collation and character set

Capture upper sql output and run it. (like following)

ALTER TABLE rma CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;ALTER TABLE rma CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;  
ALTER TABLE rma_history CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;ALTER TABLE rma_history CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;  
ALTER TABLE rma_products CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;ALTER TABLE rma_products CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;  
ALTER TABLE rma_report_period CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;ALTER TABLE rma_report_period CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;  
ALTER TABLE rma_reservation CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;ALTER TABLE rma_reservation CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;  
ALTER TABLE rma_supplier_return CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;ALTER TABLE rma_supplier_return CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;  
ALTER TABLE rma_supplier_return_history CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;ALTER TABLE rma_supplier_return_history CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;  
ALTER TABLE rma_supplier_return_product CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;ALTER TABLE rma_supplier_return_product CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci; 

refer to: https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/CONFKB/How+to+Fix+the+Collation+and+Character+Set+of+a+MySQL+Database

Answer 2

To change the character set encoding to UTF-8 for the database itself, type the following command at the mysql> prompt. Replace DBNAME with the database name:

ALTER DATABASE DBNAME CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;

Answer 3

Use HeidiSQL. Its free and a very good db tool.

From tools menu, enter Bulk table editor

Select the complete database or pick tables to convert,

• tick Change default collation: utf8mb4_general_ci
• tick Convert to charset: utf8

Execute

This converts complete database from latin to utf8 in just a few seconds.

Works like a charm :)

HeidiSQL connects by default as utf8 so any special characters should now be seen as the character (æ ø å) and not as encoded when inspecting the table data.

The real pitfall when moving from latin to utf8 is to make sure pdo connects with utf8 charset. If not you will get rubbish data inserted to the utf8 table and question marks all over the place on your web page, making you think the table data is not utf8...

Answer 4

Inspired by @sdfor comment, here is a bash script that does the job

#!/bin/bash

printf "### Converting MySQL character set ###\n\n"

printf "Enter the encoding you want to set: "
read -r CHARSET

# Get the MySQL username
printf "Enter mysql username: "
read -r USERNAME

# Get the MySQL password
printf "Enter mysql password for user %s:" "$USERNAME"
read -rs PASSWORD

DBLIST=( mydatabase1 mydatabase2 )

printf "\n"


for DB in "${DBLIST[@]}"
do
(
    echo 'ALTER DATABASE `'"$DB"'` CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE `'"$CHARSET"'`;'
    mysql "$DB" -u"$USERNAME" -p"$PASSWORD" -e "SHOW TABLES" --batch --skip-column-names \
    | xargs -I{} echo 'ALTER TABLE `'{}'` CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE `'"$CHARSET"'`;'
) \
| mysql "$DB" -u"$USERNAME" -p"$PASSWORD"

echo "$DB database done..."
done

echo "### DONE ###"
exit

Answer 5

alter table table_name charset = 'utf8';

This is a simple query i was able to use for my case, you can change the table_name as per your requirement(s).