# Character Sets and Collations

- [Character Set and Collation Overview](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/data-types/string-data-types/character-sets/character-set-and-collation-overview.md): Learn the core concepts of character sets and collations in MariaDB, including how they define string storage and sorting rules.
- [Setting Character Sets and Collations](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/data-types/string-data-types/character-sets/setting-character-sets-and-collations.md): Complete Setting Character Sets and Collations data type guide for MariaDB. Complete reference for syntax, valid values, storage requirements, and range.
- [Supported Character Sets and Collations](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/data-types/string-data-types/character-sets/supported-character-sets-and-collations.md): Complete character sets reference: SHOW CHARACTER SET command, information\_schema.CHARACTER\_SETS/COLLATIONS tables, NO PAD queries, and ci/cs flags.
- [Unicode](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/data-types/string-data-types/character-sets/unicode.md): Explore MariaDB's support for Unicode, covering the differences between the utf8mb3 and utf8mb4 character sets for multi-byte storage.
- [Internationalization and Localization](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/data-types/string-data-types/character-sets/internationalization-and-localization.md): Discover how MariaDB supports internationalization and localization, enabling databases to store and process data in multiple languages.
- [Coordinated Universal Time](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/data-types/string-data-types/character-sets/internationalization-and-localization/coordinated-universal-time.md): Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time, and is the internal storage format for MariaDB timestamp values.
- [Locales Plugin](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/data-types/string-data-types/character-sets/internationalization-and-localization/locales-plugin.md): The LOCALES plugin enables the INFORMATION\_SCHEMA.LOCALES table and SHOW LOCALES statement, allowing users to view all locales compiled into the server.
- [Server Locale](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/data-types/string-data-types/character-sets/internationalization-and-localization/server-locale.md): Server locale settings control the language for date and time functions via lc\_time\_names and the language for error messages via lc\_messages.
- [Setting the Language for Error Messages](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/data-types/string-data-types/character-sets/internationalization-and-localization/setting-the-language-for-error-messages.md): Learn how to configure the lc\_messages and lc\_messages\_dir system variables to display server error messages in a supported local language.
- [Time Zones](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/data-types/string-data-types/character-sets/internationalization-and-localization/time-zones.md): Complete Time Zones data type guide for MariaDB. Complete reference for syntax, valid values, storage requirements, and range limits for production use.


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