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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Example: | |
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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 |