How to get the character set of the currently connected using mysqli::get_charset?

When using PHP to operate a MySQL database, the setting of the character set is a very important factor, which directly affects the storage and reading of data. When you need to confirm the currently connected character set, the mysqli extension provides a very convenient method: mysqli::get_charset .

What is a character set?

A character set is a collection of characters used by computers to represent text. In a database, a character set determines how a database, table, or column stores and displays characters. In MySQL, the character set includes character encoding rules, such as UTF-8, Latin1, etc.

Introduction to mysqli::get_charset function

mysqli::get_charset is a method provided by the mysqli extension to obtain the character set settings used by the current database connection. When you connect to a MySQL database, the default character set may be latin1 or another character set you specified. Using the mysqli::get_charset method, you can easily get the character set of the currently connected.

Code Example

Here is a simple PHP example showing how to use mysqli::get_charset to get the character set of the current MySQL connection:

 <?php
// Create a database connection
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "root", "password", "database_name");

// Check if the connection is successful
if ($mysqli->connect_error) {
    die("Connection failed: " . $mysqli->connect_error);
}

// Get the character set of the currently connected
$charset = $mysqli->get_charset();

// Output character set
echo "The character set of the current database connection is: " . $charset->charset;

// Close the connection
$mysqli->close();
?>

Parse code

1. Create a database connection : Create a database connection using new mysqli() . The parameters of the connection include the host name ( localhost ), user name ( root ), password ( password ), and database name ( database_name ).

2. Check if the connection is successful : If the connection fails, output an error message and terminate script execution.

3. Get the character set : Use $mysqli->get_charset() to get the currently connected character set, and the return is a mysqli_charset object. Through the charset property of this object, we can get the name of the character set.

4. Output character set : Use echo to output the currently connected character set.

5. Close connection : Close the database connection via $mysqli->close() .

Return value of mysqli::get_charset

mysqli::get_charset returns a mysqli_charset object. This object contains the following important properties:

• charset : The name of the character set of the currently connected.

• dir : The direction of the character set (e.g. ltr or rtl ).

• max_length : The maximum character length of the character set.

With these properties of the mysqli_charset object, you can get more detailed information about the character set.

Things to note

• If your MySQL database default character set is not the character set you expect, you can change the character set via the mysqli::set_charset method.

• When working with multilingual content, the UTF-8 character set is recommended because it supports characters in almost all languages.

Summarize

Through the mysqli::get_charset function, you can easily get the character set settings for the current MySQL connection. This is very useful for debugging and ensuring the correct character set settings. If you find that the character set is not set correctly, you can use mysqli::set_charset to change it. Mastering the use of character sets is essential to avoid garbled code and ensure consistency in data storage.