- 10.3 Specifying Character Sets and Collations
- 10.3.1 Server Character Set and Collation
- 10.3.2 Database Character Set and Collation
- 10.3.3 Table Character Set and Collation
- 10.3.4 Column Character Set and Collation
- 10.3.5 Character String Literal Character Set and Collation
- 10.3.6 National Character Set
- 10.3.7 Examples of Character Set and Collation Assignment
- 10.3.8 Compatibility with Other DBMSs
Every “character” column (that is, a column of type
CHAR, VARCHAR, or
TEXT) has a column character set and a column
collation. Column definition syntax has optional clauses for
specifying the column character set and collation:
col_name{CHAR | VARCHAR | TEXT} (col_length) [CHARACTER SETcharset_name] [COLLATEcollation_name]
Example:
CREATE TABLE Table1
(
column1 VARCHAR(5) CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_german1_ci
);
MySQL chooses the column character set and collation in the following manner:
If both
CHARACTER SETandXCOLLATEwere specified, then character setYXand collationYare used.If
CHARACTER SETwas specified withoutXCOLLATE, then character setXand its default collation are used.If
COLLATEwas specified withoutYCHARACTER SET, then the character set associated withYand collationY.Otherwise, the table character set and collation are used.
The CHARACTER SET and
COLLATE clauses are standard SQL.
User Comments
To change the character set (and collation) for all columns in an existing table, use...
ALTER TABLE tbl_name CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET charset_name [COLLATE collation_name];
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