INSERTing UTF-8 string into MySQL table

Question

I am struggling to INSERT a UTF-8 encoded string into MySQL table from a PHP script:

The table is set to collation "utf8_unicode_ci", the field is a text field, also collation "utf8_unicode_ci". The string is being read in from another site, and looks like this:

$str = "Bonka bдver, е hцra va man bara ta't en fika.";

...everything looks good right before the INSERT. If I echo($str); I see the unicode characters:

Bonka bдver, е hцra va man bara ta't en fika.

...but when I try to INSERT this string into the MySQL table, like this:

$sql = "INSERT INTO mytable (id, mystring)
        VALUES ('','".addslashes($str)."');";
if ( !mysqli_query( $mysqli, $sql ) ) {
    printf("Error: %s\n", mysqli_error( $mysqli ) );
    die();
}

...what gets written to the database is:

Bonka bÐ´ver, Ðµ hÑ†ra va man bara ta't en fika.

I'm pretty sure the table is alright, (because I tried inserting the same string via PhpMyAdmin and it worked fine), and I'm pretty sure the source string is alright, (because I can output it via echo() and it's in unicode), so I guess the problem must be the way that I am inserting it? What am I doing wrong?

PS. I tried it without the addslashes() on the $str, but then I just get the error:

Error: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MariaDB server version for the right syntax to use near 't en fika.

Thanks for looking!

Maybe this link will help you. stackoverflow.com/questions/3811257/… — Newbi3
– Newbi3, Commented Feb 12, 2014 at 23:52
Thanks @Newbi3 - found the answer now thanks to Niet, but this link also provides the correct answer. — Neil Hillman
– Neil Hillman, Commented Feb 13, 2014 at 0:01

Community · Accepted Answer · 2023-11-17 20:29:45Z

1

Set the charset on the connection to UTF-8 with mysqli_set_charset.

edited Nov 17, 2023 at 20:29

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answered Feb 12, 2014 at 23:50

Niet the Dark Absol

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2 Comments

Neil Hillman Over a year ago

Brilliant, works! Thanks, I spent the last 4 hours on this... ;-) So I guess setting the collation to unicode wasn't enough!

Niet the Dark Absol Over a year ago

's one of the main reasons I work purely in single-byte character sets. There's just too much work involved in making things work in UTF-8!

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