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# Converting a MySQL database to UTF-8

> Convert your MySQL database to UTF-8 with this guide featuring instructions, code snippets, and related articles.

This article describes how to convert a MySQL database's character set to UTF-8 encoding (also known as Unicode). The UTF-8 character encoding set supports many alphabets and characters for a wide variety of languages.

Although MySQL supports the UTF-8 character encoding set, it is often not used as the default character set during database and table creation. As a result, many databases use the Latin character set, which can be limiting depending upon the application.

## Determining the current character encoding set

To determine which character encoding set a MySQL database or table is currently using:

1. Log in to your account [using SSH](/docs/using-ssh-secure-shell).

2. At the command line, type the following command, replacing ***username*** with your username:

   ```bash theme={null}
   mysql -u username -p
   ```

3. At the **Enter Password** prompt, type your password. When you type the correct password, the **mysql>** prompt appears.

4. To display the current character encoding set for a particular database, type the following command at the **mysql>** prompt. Replace ***dbname*** with the database name:

   ```sql theme={null}
   SELECT default_character_set_name FROM information_schema.SCHEMATA S WHERE schema_name = "dbname";
   ```

5. To display the current character encoding set for a particular table in a database, type the following command at the **mysql>** prompt. Replace ***dbname*** with the database name, and ***tablename*** with the name of the table:

   ```sql theme={null}
   SELECT CCSA.character_set_name FROM information_schema.`TABLES` T,information_schema.`COLLATION_CHARACTER_SET_APPLICABILITY` CCSA WHERE CCSA.collation_name = T.table_collation AND T.table_schema = "dbname" AND T.table_name = "tablename";
   ```

6. To exit the *mysql* program, type `\q` at the **mysql>** prompt.

## Converting the character encoding set to UTF-8

<Warning>
  **️ Warning**

  Make sure that you back up the database before you start this procedure! You can back up a MySQL database using [cPanel](/docs/backups-in-cpanel), [phpMyAdmin](/docs/phpmyadmin-and-phppgadmin), or the [mysqldump program](/docs/import-and-export-a-mysql-database).
</Warning>

To convert the character encoding set to UTF-8:

1. Log in to your account [using SSH](/docs/using-ssh-secure-shell).

2. Create a text file named *.my.cnf*. To do this, you can use a text editor such as Vim or Nano. This procedure shows how to use Nano. At the command line, type the following command:

   ```bash theme={null}
   nano .my.cnf
   ```

3. Add the following lines to the file, replacing ***username*** with your username and ***password*** with your password (make sure the password is enclosed in quotation marks):

   ```
   [client]
   user=username
   password="password"
   ```

4. When the edits are complete, press Ctrl+X, type `y` to save the file, and then press Enter.

5. To change the character set encoding to UTF-8 for all of the tables in the specified database, type the following command at the command line. Replace ***dbname*** with the database name:

   ```bash theme={null}
   mysql --database=dbname -B -N -e "SHOW TABLES" | awk '{print "SET foreign_key_checks = 0; ALTER TABLE", $1, "CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci; SET foreign_key_checks = 1; "}' | mysql --database=dbname
   ```

6. After the command finishes, type the following command to start the *mysql* program:

   ```bash theme={null}
   mysql
   ```

7. 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:

   ```sql theme={null}
   ALTER DATABASE dbname CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;
   ```

8. To exit the *mysql* program, type `\q` at the **mysql>** prompt.

9. To delete the *.my.cnf* file, type the following command at the command line:

   ```bash theme={null}
   rm .my.cnf
   ```

10. To verify that the character set encoding is now set to UTF-8, follow the steps in the **Determining the current character encoding set** procedure above.

## More information

For more information about UTF-8 and Unicode, please visit [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTF-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTF-8).

## Related articles

* [Connecting to MySQL from the command line](/docs/connect-to-mysql-from-the-command-line)

* [Managing MySQL databases, users, and tables from the command line](/docs/managing-mysql-databases-and-users-from-the-command-line)