Question

I have a MySQL DB, encoded in UTF8, where some records have ‘ā’s in them (in case it doesn’t show up right in SO, that’s an ‘a’ with a line above it).

There is a PHP script that is getting the records, putting them in an array, and json_encoding them. No matter whether the script is being invoked by ajax or the webpage, the ‘ā’s show up as question marks. Where is the problem, and how do I fix it?

Thanks,
Jamie McClymont

EDIT: Forgot to mention that the ‘ā’s show up fine in PHPMyAdmin

Answer 1

For the text to print correctly you need to set the charset of the mysql connection and the page

For the connection the following query will work

set names utf8

Run this query right after connecting

If the charset is still incorrect try adding

header('Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8'); 

assuming you’re outputting json

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/charset-connection.html