# mysql\_set\_character\_set

## Syntax

```c
int mysql_set_character_set(MYSQL * mysql,
                            const char * csname);
```

* `mysql` - a mysql handle, which was previously allocated by [mysql\_init()](https://mariadb.com/docs/connectors/mariadb-connector-c/api-functions/mysql_init) or [mysql\_real\_connect()](https://mariadb.com/docs/connectors/mariadb-connector-c/api-functions/mysql_real_connect).
* `csname` - character set name

## Description

Sets the default [character set](https://app.gitbook.com/s/SsmexDFPv2xG2OTyO5yV/reference/data-types/string-data-types/character-sets) for the current connection. Returns zero on success, non-zero on failure.

{% hint style="info" %}
It's strongly recommended to use `mysql_set_character_set()` instead of SET NAMES ... since [mysql\_real\_escape\_string()](https://mariadb.com/docs/connectors/mariadb-connector-c/api-functions/mysql_real_escape_string) might fail or deliver unexpected results.
{% endhint %}

The client library supports the following character sets:

| Character set | Description                                                              |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| armscii8      | 8-bit character set for Armenian                                         |
| ascii         | US ASCII character set                                                   |
| big5          | 2-byte character set for traditional Chinese, Hongkong, Macau and Taiwan |
| binary        | 8-bit binary character set                                               |
| cp1250        | Windows code page 1250-character set                                     |
| cp1251        | Windows code page 1251-character set                                     |
| cp1256        | Windows code page 1256-character set                                     |
| cp1257        | Windows code page 1257-character set                                     |
| cp850         | MS-DOS Codepage 850 (Western Europe)                                     |
| cp852         | MS-DOS Codepage 852 (Middle Europe)                                      |
| cp866         | MS-DOS Codepage 866 (Russian)                                            |
| cp932         | Microsoft Codepage 932 (Extension to sjis)                               |
| dec8          | DEC West European                                                        |
| eucjpms       | UJIS for Windows Japanese                                                |
| euckr         | EUC KR-Korean                                                            |
| gb2312        | GB-2312 simplified Chinese                                               |
| gbk           | GBK simplified Chinese                                                   |
| geostd8       | GEOSTD8 Georgian                                                         |
| greek         | ISO 8859-7 Greek                                                         |
| hebrew        | ISO 8859-8 Hebrew                                                        |
| hp8           | HP West European                                                         |
| keybcs2       | DOS Kamenicky Czech-Slovak                                               |
| koi8r         | KOI8-R Relcom Russian                                                    |
| koi8u         | KOI8-U Ukrainian                                                         |
| latin1        | CP1252 Western European                                                  |
| latin2        | ISO 8859-2 Central Europe                                                |
| latin5        | ISO 8859-9 Turkish                                                       |
| latin7        | ISO 8859-13 Baltic                                                       |
| macce         | MAC Central European                                                     |
| macroman      | MAC Western European                                                     |
| sjis          | SJIS for Windows Japanese                                                |
| swe7          | 7-bit Swedish                                                            |
| tis620        | TIS620 Thai                                                              |
| ucs2          | UCS-2 Unicode                                                            |
| ujis          | EUC-JP Japanese                                                          |
| utf8          | UTF-8 Unicode                                                            |
| utf16         | UTF-16 Unicode                                                           |
| utf32         | UTF-32 Unicode                                                           |
| utf8mb4       | UTF 4-byte Unicode                                                       |

## See also

* [mysql\_real\_escape\_string()](https://mariadb.com/docs/connectors/mariadb-connector-c/api-functions/mysql_real_escape_string)

{% @marketo/form formId="4316" %}