A script to change all tables and fields to the utf-8-bin collation in MYSQL

Question

Is there a SQL or PHP script that I can run that will change the default collation in all tables and fields in a database?

I can write one

Answer 1

For Windows Users

In addition to @davidwinterbottom answer, windows users can use command below:

mysql.exe --database=[database] -u [user] -p[password] -B -N -e "SHOW TABLES" \
| awk.exe '{print "SET foreign_key_checks = 0; ALTER TABLE", $1, "CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci; SET foreign_key_checks = 1; "}' \
| mysql.exe -u [user] -p[password] --database=[database] &

Replace [database], [user] and [password] placeholders with actual values.

Git-bash users can download this bash script and run it easily.

Answer 2

I think the fastest way is with phpmyadmin and some jQuery on console.

Go to table's structure and open chrome/firefox developer console (normally F12 on keyboard):

1. run this code to select all fields with incorrect charset and start modify:

   var elems = $('dfn'); var lastID = elems.length - 1;
   elems.each(function(i) {
       if ($(this).html() != 'utf8_general_ci') { 
          $('input:checkbox', $('td', $(this).parent().parent()).first()).attr('checked','checked');
       }       
   
       if (i == lastID) {
           $("button[name='submit_mult'][value='change']").click();
       }
   });
   

2. when page is loaded use this code on console to select correct encoding:

   $("select[name*='field_collation']" ).val('utf8_general_ci');
   

3. save

4. change the table's charset on "Collation" field on "Operation" tab

Tested on phpmyadmin 4.0 and 4.4, but I think work on all 4.x versions

Answer 3

Be careful! If you actually have utf stored as another encoding, you could have a real mess on your hands. Back up first. Then try some of the standard methods:

for instance http://www.cesspit.net/drupal/node/898 http://www.hackszine.com/blog/archive/2007/05/mysql_database_migration_latin.html

I've had to resort to converting all text fields to binary, then back to varchar/text. This has saved my ass.

I had data is UTF8, stored as latin1. What I did:

Drop indexes. Convert fields to binary. Convert to utf8-general ci

If your on LAMP, don’t forget to add set NAMES command before interacting with the db, and make sure you set character encoding headers.

Answer 4

Use my custom shell collatedb, it should work :

collatedb <username> <password> <database> <collation>

Example :

collatedb root 0000 myDatabase utf8_bin