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Use mysqli::get_charset to debug script templates with character set errors

M66 2025-05-22

Character set encoding errors are a common problem in PHP development, especially when dealing with databases. When using a MySQL database, the character set settings may cause some data to not be displayed correctly. To debug these problems, the mysqli::get_charset function can help you understand the character set settings of the current connection and then find out potential encoding problems.

This article will show how to write a PHP script template, use mysqli::get_charset to debug character set encoding errors, and provide some common solutions.

1. Use mysqli::get_charset to get the current character set

In PHP, if you use the mysqli extension to connect to the database, you can check the character set of the currently connected through the mysqli::get_charset method. This function returns an object containing character set information, which is usually used to debug character set problems in database connections.

Here is a simple example showing how to use mysqli::get_charset to get character set information:

 <?php
// Create a database connection
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "username", "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 information
echo "Current character set: " . $charset->charset . "<br>";
echo "Character set encoding: " . $charset->collation . "<br>";

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

explain:

  • get_charset() returns an object containing the character set and proofreading rules information used by the current database connection.

  • By accessing the charset and collation properties, you can view the current character set and its associated proofreading rules.

2. Common character set encoding errors

Character set encoding errors usually occur in the following situations:

  1. Character set inconsistent : The database character set and the character set used by PHP scripts are inconsistent.

  2. Character set not set correctly : When establishing a database connection, the correct character set is not specified, resulting in the data being incorrectly encoded or decoded.

  3. Coding problems during data insertion/query : Inconsistent character set settings may also lead to garbled code when inserting or querying data.

3. Steps to solve the character set problem

Step 1: Make sure the character sets of the database and table are consistent

In the database, make sure that the character sets of your database and tables are set correctly. The character set can be viewed and set through the following SQL query:

 -- View the character set of the current database
SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'character_set_database';

-- View the character set of the current table
SHOW TABLE STATUS WHERE Name = 'your_table_name';

-- Set the character set of the database to utf8mb4
ALTER DATABASE your_database_name CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

Step 2: Specify the character set in PHP

To ensure that the character sets are consistent between PHP and the database, it is recommended to specify the character set explicitly when connecting to the database. For example:

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

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

// Set the character set to utf8mb4
if (!$mysqli->set_charset("utf8mb4")) {
    echo "Character set setting failed: " . $mysqli->error;
} else {
    echo "Character set set successfully: " . $mysqli->character_set_name();
}

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

Step 3: Check if the URL is using the correct encoding

In some cases, character set settings in the URL can also cause problems. Especially when processing URLs, make sure that the character set in the URL is consistent with the database. If you use a URL pass parameter that contains special characters or Chinese, make sure they have been encoded correctly. You can use urlencode or urldecode to handle these characters:

 <?php
// Suppose there is a Chinese URL
$url = "https://m66.net/search?query=Hello";

// right URL Do coding
$encoded_url = urlencode($url);
echo "Encoded URL: " . $encoded_url . "<br>";

// right URL Perform decoding
$decoded_url = urldecode($encoded_url);
echo "Decoded URL: " . $decoded_url . "<br>";
?>

4. Common debugging methods

1. Debug character sets using mysqli::get_charset

As mentioned earlier, using the get_charset function can help you view the currently connected character set. If the character set is incorrect, resetting the character set may solve the problem. You can check the character set settings after each connection.

2. Check the encoding through the browser

Make sure that the browser's character set is consistent with the database's character set. Browsers can usually detect character sets automatically, but sometimes they need to be set manually. For example, use meta tags in HTML files to specify a character set:

 <meta charset="UTF-8">

3. Check the database content

Check whether the data in the table is correctly encoded through database management tools such as phpMyAdmin or MySQL Workbench. If garbled code appears, try modifying the character set or reinserting the data.

5. Summary

By using the mysqli::get_charset function, you can easily debug and solve the database character set encoding problem. Ensure that the database and PHP use a consistent character set, especially when dealing with multilingual or special characters. In addition, correct URL encoding and character set settings are also important factors in avoiding character set problems.

Hopefully this article can help you better understand and solve common character set encoding problems. If you have any questions or suggestions, please leave a message in the comment section.