| 4. 20. 15. Table Character Set and Collation |
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Every table has a table character set and a table collation. |
The CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE statements have optional clauses for specifying them: |
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CREATE TABLE tbl_name (column_list)
[[DEFAULT] CHARACTER SET charset_name] [COLLATE collation_name]]
ALTER TABLE tbl_name
[[DEFAULT] CHARACTER SET charset_name] [COLLATE collation_name]
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Example: |
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CREATE TABLE t1 ( first_name varchar(30) ) CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_danish_ci;
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MySQL chooses the table character set and collation in the following manner: |
If both CHARACTER SET X and COLLATE Y were specified, then character set X and collation Y. |
If CHARACTER SET X was specified without COLLATE, then character set X and its default collation. |
If COLLATE Y was specified without CHARACTER SET, then the character set associated with Y and collation Y. |
Otherwise, the database character set and collation. |
The table character set and collation are used as default values if the column character set and collation are not specified in individual column definitions. |
Quote from MySQL document: www.mysql.com |