UTF-8 encoding error during database migration

Question

I keep getting the silly invalid byte sequence for encoding "UTF8": 0x96 error or whatever it is. Now I've identified it as a problem with my server space.

The thing is I migrated from a very similar database which was also UTF-8. I test out my PHP scripts on the first database and they work but on the one I require they do not. It must be a problem with encoding but I'm not sure what.

My PHP queries are failing on the new database and producing that error.

PHP:

$name = $_POST["name"];
$type = $_POST["type"];
$contact = $_POST["contact"];
$address = $_POST["address"];
$postcode = $_POST["postcode"];
$phone = $_POST["phone"];
$description = $_POST["description"];
$location = $_POST["location"];

$conn = pg_connect(/*DATABASE CONNECTION DETAILS*/);

$res = pg_query("INSERT INTO address (organisation_type, contact_name, address, postcode, phone_number, description, location_to_town, organisation_name) VALUES ('$type', '$contact', '$address', '$postcode', '$phone', '$description', '$location', '$name')");

 pg_close($conn);

I mean that is a simple PHP write to database function and the only oddity is that of one UTF-8 database working and the other not. Is there any way I can compare the server/change the configurations of my PostGreSQL server at the command line?

Thanks any information would be much appreciated. Tearing my hair out over this!

@DanielD Try to insert a user with name Jimmy O'Hara.. it will probably get an error cause you are not escaping quotes.. unless you have magic_quotes ini option enabled (which is not recommended btw).. — Nelson Benítez León
– Nelson Benítez León, Commented Nov 13, 2012 at 17:49
@DanielD See xkcd.com/327, and think about what would happen if a user tried to register with a name like that. To avoid this problem, see php.net/manual/en/function.pg-prepare.php. — Brian Campbell
– Brian Campbell, Commented Nov 13, 2012 at 18:00
@DanielD Re Álvaro's comment: You need to read kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/… , php.net/manual/en/security.database.sql-injection.php, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL_injection, bobby-tables.com . Here's a related answer - about Delphi, but the principles are the same: stackoverflow.com/a/13171076/398670 — Craig Ringer
– Craig Ringer, Commented Nov 14, 2012 at 1:08

Wolfgang Stengel · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-13 18:24:12Z

2

The error message names 0x96, which does not look like UTF-8 but rather a dash in some 8 bit charset. Make sure that you are posting UTF-8, by setting the correct meta header in your HTML:

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

Or sending the charset with a content type HTTP header on the PHP side:

header('Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8');

answered Nov 13, 2012 at 18:24

Wolfgang Stengel

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