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I have a Wordpress site using a MySQL database. I would like to put a Greek word (Ἀπὸ) in my database. (Notice how nicely it renders here in the Stack Overflow interface.) If I do, it goes into the table just fine and renders just fine in Sequel Pro. However when I use some PHP to read it out of the table and add it to a page on my Wordpress site, it renders ??? instead of Ἀπὸ. If I add the word directly to a page in the Wordpress interface however, it shows the Greek characters just fine in both the interface and on the rendered page. I took a look at the page that shows ??? and I see the line:

<meta charset='utf-8'>

I believe that should be all it takes to render these Greek characters. What am I missing?

Edit

Because someone asked for it:

CREATE TABLE `scripture` (
  `id` int(6) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `translation` varchar(4) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `content` varchar(1200) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `book` varchar(20) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `chapter` int(3) NOT NULL,
  `verse` varchar(7) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `first_verse` int(3) DEFAULT NULL,
  `topic` varchar(200) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
  `related1` int(6) DEFAULT NULL,
  `related2` int(6) DEFAULT NULL,
  `related3` int(6) DEFAULT NULL,
  `related4` int(6) DEFAULT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`id`),
  KEY `book_chapter_verse_translation` (`book`,`chapter`,`verse`,`translation`),
  KEY `translation_book_chapter_first_verse` (`translation`,`book`,`chapter`,`first_verse`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB AUTO_INCREMENT=1129 DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 COLLATE=utf8_unicode_ci

character_set_client utf8
character_set_connection utf8
character_set_database utf8
character_set_filesystem binary
character_set_results utf8
character_set_server latin1
character_set_system utf8
character_sets_dir /rdsdbbin/mysel-5.6.23.R1/share/charsets/

wp-config.php has the following:

/** Database Charset to use in creating database tables. */
define('DB_CHARSET', 'utf8');

/** The Database Collate type. Don't change this if in doubt. */
define('DB_COLLATE', '');

I have tried commenting them out and I have tried making DB_COLLATE = utf8_unicode_ci

Second Edit

The solution was to add the following PHP code ahead of the query:

$mysqli->set_charset("utf8");
Kenneth Vogt
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2 Answers2

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In this , look for "question marks".

In particular, it suggest that these are the likely things to check for:

  • The bytes to be stored are not encoded as utf8/utf8mb4. Fix this.
  • The column in the database is CHARACTER SET utf8 (or utf8mb4). Fix this.
  • Also, check that the connection during reading is UTF-8.

The problem occurred when storing the data; the data is lost. This can be confirmed by doing SELECT HEX(col)... -- it will be all 3F, the hex for ?.

If there are still problems, please provide SHOW CREATE TABLE, SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'char%', and the connection parameters.

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Rick James
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  • The bytes stored are encoded as utf8. The column is set to CHARACTER SET utf8. I don't know how to "check that the connection during reading is UTF-8" other than the meta tag mentioned above. I did a SELECT HEX(col) and it did not show 3F. Incidentally, I tried manually adding the Greek text to the same page that renders some content from the database. The manually added text renders properly and the database-derived text does not. – Kenneth Vogt Dec 19 '16 at 19:41
  • Looking at SHOW CREATE TABLE and SHOW CREATE DATABASE showed me what I expected to see. However SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'char%' showed some potential problems: character_set_database = latin1 and character_set_server = latin1. – Kenneth Vogt Dec 19 '16 at 20:05
  • The database settings are merely defaults for new tables. – Rick James Dec 19 '16 at 23:26
  • Does WP have any configuration to specify charset? – Rick James Dec 19 '16 at 23:27
  • Apparently the Greek characters were not utf8-encoded. Can you provide the HEX of the characters _before_ getting into the database. utf8-encoding for Greek is `CExx` and/or `CFxx`. – Rick James Dec 20 '16 at 20:05
  • For these three characters Ἀπὸ the hex characters returned respectively were E1BC88 CF80 E1BDB8 – Kenneth Vogt Dec 20 '16 at 22:09
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    Oh, I should have realized they were 'Extended Greek' characters. Anyway, that is valid utf8 hex for those characters. Either utf8 or utf8mb4 will properly handle them. Since you are having trouble with PHP, not with WP, please show the PHP code. It is probably missing a `set_charset()` or equivalent. – Rick James Dec 20 '16 at 22:30
  • (The `COLLATION`, `utf8_unicode_ci, etc`, is not relevant to this question; only the `CHARACTER SET`, `utf8` or `utf8mb4`.) – Rick James Dec 20 '16 at 22:32
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Special characters or Greek word can be saved in database with minor changes below:

  • change DB charset and collation to utf8

mysql_query("SET NAMES 'utf8'");

mysql_query("SET CHARACTER SET 'utf8'")

  • Change character set for column to utf8 "exp:utf8_general_ci"
  • Change you insert and update queries and add capital "N" in front of the values.

Exp:

INSERT INTO table_name field1, field2 VALUES(N'value1', N'value2');

This will save all special character without any modification or encoding.

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Sajan Sharma
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  • really it helps me a lot Cheers :-) – Ashish Dec 20 '16 at 07:29
  • The one new thing you introduced here was to add "N" in front of the values when inserting or updating. Alas, I still ended up with ??? rendering on the page. Keep in mind that the data was already being accurately saved in the database. – Kenneth Vogt Dec 20 '16 at 17:26
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    mysql_query("SET NAMES 'utf8'"); mysql_query("SET CHARACTER SET 'utf8'"); try by adding these line after make connection to your DB. – Sajan Sharma Dec 21 '16 at 05:41