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<title>Sets the client character set</title>
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<h1 class="refname">mysql_set_charset</h1>
<p class="verinfo">(PHP 5 >= 5.2.3)</p><p class="refpurpose"><span class="refname">mysql_set_charset</span> — <span class="dc-title">Sets the client character set</span></p>
</div>
<div id="function.mysql-set-charset-refsynopsisdiv">
<div class="warning"><strong class="warning">Warning</strong>
<p class="para">This extension is deprecated as of PHP 5.5.0, and will be removed in the future.
Instead, the <a href="book.mysqli.html" class="link">MySQLi</a> or <a href="ref.pdo-mysql.html" class="link">PDO_MySQL</a> extension should be used.
See also <a href="mysqlinfo.api.choosing.html" class="link">MySQL: choosing an API</a> guide and
<a href="faq.databases.html#faq.databases.mysql.deprecated" class="link">related FAQ</a> for more information.
Alternatives to this function include:</p>
<ul class="simplelist">
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="mysqli.character-set-name.html" class="function">mysqli_character_set_name()</a></span></li>
<li class="member">PDO: Add <em>charset</em> to the connection string, such as <em>charset=utf8</em></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 description" id="refsect1-function.mysql-set-charset-description">
<h3 class="title">Description</h3>
<div class="methodsynopsis dc-description">
<span class="type">bool</span> <span class="methodname"><strong>mysql_set_charset</strong></span>
( <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">string</span> <code class="parameter">$charset</code></span>
[, <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">resource</span> <code class="parameter">$link_identifier</code><span class="initializer"> = NULL</span></span>
] )</div>
<p class="para rdfs-comment">
Sets the default character set for the current connection.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 parameters" id="refsect1-function.mysql-set-charset-parameters">
<h3 class="title">Parameters</h3>
<p class="para">
<dl>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">charset</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
A valid character set name.
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">
link_identifier</code></em></span><dd>
<p class="para">The MySQL connection. If the
link identifier is not specified, the last link opened by
<span class="function"><a href="function.mysql-connect.html" class="function">mysql_connect()</a></span> is assumed. If no such link is found, it
will try to create one as if <span class="function"><a href="function.mysql-connect.html" class="function">mysql_connect()</a></span> was called
with no arguments. If no connection is found or established, an
<strong><code>E_WARNING</code></strong> level error is generated.</p></dd>
</dt>
</dl>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 returnvalues" id="refsect1-function.mysql-set-charset-returnvalues">
<h3 class="title">Return Values</h3>
<p class="para">
Returns <strong><code>TRUE</code></strong> on success or <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong> on failure.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 notes" id="refsect1-function.mysql-set-charset-notes">
<h3 class="title">Notes</h3>
<blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>:
<p class="para">
This function requires MySQL 5.0.7 or later.
</p>
</p></blockquote>
<blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>:
<p class="para">
This is the preferred way to change the charset. Using
<span class="function"><a href="function.mysql-query.html" class="function">mysql_query()</a></span> to set it (such as <em>SET NAMES utf8</em>)
is not recommended. See the <a href="mysqlinfo.concepts.charset.html" class="link">MySQL character set concepts</a>
section for more information.
</p>
</p></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 seealso" id="refsect1-function.mysql-set-charset-seealso">
<h3 class="title">See Also</h3>
<p class="para">
<ul class="simplelist">
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.mysql-client-encoding.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">mysql_client_encoding()</a> - Returns the name of the character set</span></li>
<li class="member"><a href="mysqlinfo.concepts.charset.html" class="link">Setting character sets in MySQL</a></li>
<li class="member"><a href="http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/charset-charsets.html" class="link external">» List of character sets that MySQL supports</a></li>
</ul>
</p>
</div>
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