Question

I am using UTF8 as encoding for my Postgres 8.4.11 database:

CREATE DATABASE test
  WITH OWNER = postgres
       ENCODING = 'UTF8'
       TABLESPACE = mydata
       LC_COLLATE = 'de_DE.UTF-8'
       LC_CTYPE = 'de_DE.UTF-8'
       CONNECTION LIMIT = -1;

ALTER DATABASE test SET default_tablespace='mydata';
ALTER DATABASE test SET temp_tablespaces=mydata;

And the output of \l

 test | postgres  | UTF8     | de_DE.UTF-8 | de_DE.UTF-8 |

When I try to insert a German character:

create table x(a text);

insert into x values('ä,ß,ö');

ERROR:  invalid byte sequence for encoding "UTF8": 0xe42cdf
HINT:  This error can also happen if the byte sequence does not match the encoding expected by the server, which is controlled by "client_encoding".

I am using puTTY to connect. Any idea?

Answer 1

The key element is the client_encoding – the encoding the server expects from your client. It has to match what is actually sent. What do you get for show client_encoding? Is it UNICODE?

Read more in the chapter Automatic Character Set Conversion Between Server and Client of the manual.

If you are using psql as client, you can set client_encoding with \encoding. Check the encoding your local system users (on Linux type locale in the shell) and set a matching client_encoding in psql. You can avoid such complications if you use the same locale on your system as you use as encoding for your PostgreSQL server.

If you use puTTY (on Windows), make sure to set its "Translation" accordingly. Have a look at Settings: Window – Translation. Must match client_encoding. You can right-click in a running session and chose Change Settings. You can also save these settings with your saved sessions.