How to encode UTF8 from database with PHP

Question

I have simple PHP test API for my database. It queries MySQL DB and returns JSON. Problem is, some values are in Cyrillic and all I get is a question marks. My PHP code is like this:

<?php
mysql_connect ( "localhost", "root", "" );
mysql_select_db ( "uni_database" );
$q = mysql_query ( "SELECT * FROM `students`" );
while ( $e = mysql_fetch_assoc ( $q ) )
    $output [] = $e;
print  (json_encode( $output ) );
mysql_close ();

?>

Does anyone know how to encode values from DB to UTF8?

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 11 '13 at 15:45

1

When you create a database make sure it is set to utf8

CREATE DATABASE `myDb` DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;

Then make the field type as text

answered Aug 11 '13 at 15:45

Roseann Solano

762
2
8
13

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 11 '13 at 15:46

1

mysql_connect ( "localhost", "root", "" );
mysql_select_db ( "uni_database" );
mysql_query("set character_set_connection=utf8");
mysql_query("set names utf8");
...

answered Aug 11 '13 at 15:46

Vlad

3,626
16
14

Yes, this helps, but now I am getting something like this: u0441\u0442\u0443\u0434\u0435\u043d\u0442... So, is there a way to convert this to Cyrillic script? – miller Aug 11 '13 at 15:59
Don't `SET NAMES`! See http://stackoverflow.com/a/12720360/476 – deceze Aug 11 '13 at 16:01
@Miller That's exactly what you want! It's JSON encoded characters. – deceze Aug 11 '13 at 16:01
@Miller Is a json encoded cyrillic. – Vlad Aug 11 '13 at 16:02
@deceze Don't use mysql_! – Vlad Aug 11 '13 at 16:03
@Vlad Sure, but if you do, at least don't `SET NAMES`! – deceze Aug 11 '13 at 16:04

How to encode UTF8 from database with PHP

2 Answers2