How do I find out the default server character set in mysql?
As documented under Server Character Set and Collation:
Initially, the server character set and collation depend on the options that you use when you start
mysqld. You can use--character-set-serverfor the character set. Along with it, you can add--collation-serverfor the collation. If you don't specify a character set, that is the same as saying--character-set-server=latin1.
The default server character set is therefore Windows-1252, which MySQL calls latin1, unless your copy of MySQL has been compiled with some other default.
The manual goes on to say:
The current server character set and collation can be determined from the values of the
character_set_serverandcollation_serversystem variables. These variables can be changed at runtime.
Therefore, to discover the server character set currently in use:
SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'character_set_server'
According to documentation. This is what you need:
SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'character_set%';SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'collation%';Or even better:
SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'c%';