Say Goodbye to Character Set Issues: The Complete Guide to Converting Your MySQL Database to utf-8-bin

• Collation: Determines how characters are sorted and compared within a character set. "utf-8-bin" is a binary collation that treats each character as a byte sequence, maintaining the original binary representation.
• Character set: Defines the range of characters a database can store, like alphabets, numbers, and symbols. "utf-8" is a widely used character set capable of handling diverse languages.

Why convert?

• Wider character support: Enables storage of various languages and symbols beyond basic English.
• Compatibility: Ensures consistent character handling across different systems and applications.

Considerations:

• "utf-8-bin" doesn't perform case-sensitive comparisons. Consider alternative collations like "utf8mb4_general_ci" for case-sensitive needs.
• This script modifies the database structure. Back up your database before proceeding.

Solution:

We can achieve this conversion with a two-step process:

Update the database character set and collation:

ALTER DATABASE <database_name> CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_bin;

Convert individual tables:

SELECT CONCAT('ALTER TABLE ', table_name, ' CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_bin;') AS alter_query
FROM information_schema.tables
WHERE table_schema = '<database_name>';

This script retrieves table names and generates individual ALTER TABLE statements for each table, effectively converting them one by one. You can execute each generated query individually or save them to a file and run them all at once.

Important:

• Ensure you have the necessary permissions to modify the database schema.
• Replace <database_name> with your actual database name in both queries.

Related Issues and Solutions:

• Performance impact: Converting large databases can take time. Schedule this process during low-traffic periods to minimize disruptions.
• Data loss: If your existing data uses a different character set incompatible with "utf-8-bin", it might be lost during conversion. Consider data migration tools or character set conversion techniques to mitigate this.