PHP PDO: charset, set names?
You'll have it in your connection string like:
"mysql:host=$host;dbname=$db;charset=utf8"HOWEVER, prior to PHP 5.3.6, the charset option was ignored. If you're running an older version of PHP, you must do it like this:
$dbh = new PDO("mysql:$connstr", $user, $password);$dbh->exec("set names utf8");
This is probably the most elegant way to do it.
Right in the PDO constructor call, but avoiding the buggy charset option (as mentioned above):
$connect = new PDO( "mysql:host=$host;dbname=$db", $user, $pass, array( PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE => PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION, PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_INIT_COMMAND => "SET NAMES utf8" ));Works great for me.