PHP MySQLi character_set_name() - Checking the Character Set

mysqli_character_set_name()

The mysqli_character_set_name() function returns the default character set for the current connection. This tells us how special characters will be stored and displayed.

EXAMPLE

<?php
$server = "localhost";
$username = "root";
$password = "";
$database = "mysqli_database";

$connection = mysqli_connect($server, $username, $password, $database);

if (!$connection) {
    die("Connection failed.");
}

// Getting the character set
$charset = mysqli_character_set_name($connection);

// NOTE: This function tells us how the database interprets characters.
// If we want our table to correctly display special characters (like Č, Š, Ž) 
// in words like Orange and Chicory, this character set must be set to utf8 or utf8mb4.
echo "Default character set: " . $charset;

mysqli_close($connection);
?>

RESULT

The result will be displayed here...

Practical use: For proper display of special characters, this function should return utf8mb4.

Create a PHP file with the code and run it.

Check the output: latin1 can cause issues with special characters.

To change it, use mysqli_set_charset().