How to change the default charset of a MySQL table?

Question

There is a MySQL table which has this definition taken from SQLYog Enterprise :

Table              Create Table                             


        

Answer 1

If someone is searching for a complete solution for changing default charset for all database tables and converting the data, this could be one:

DELIMITER $$

CREATE PROCEDURE `exec_query`(IN sql_text VARCHAR(255))
BEGIN
  SET @tquery = `sql_text`;
  PREPARE `stmt` FROM @tquery;
  EXECUTE `stmt`;
  DEALLOCATE PREPARE `stmt`;
END$$

CREATE PROCEDURE `change_character_set`(IN `charset` VARCHAR(64), IN `collation` VARCHAR(64))
BEGIN
DECLARE `done` BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE;
DECLARE `tab_name` VARCHAR(64);
DECLARE `charset_cursor` CURSOR FOR 
    SELECT `table_name` FROM `information_schema`.`tables`
    WHERE `table_schema` = DATABASE() AND `table_type` = 'BASE TABLE';
DECLARE CONTINUE HANDLER FOR NOT FOUND SET `done` = TRUE;

SET foreign_key_checks = 0;
OPEN `charset_cursor`;
`change_loop`: LOOP
FETCH `charset_cursor` INTO `tab_name`;
IF `done` THEN
    LEAVE `change_loop`;
END IF;
CALL `exec_query`(CONCAT(
  'ALTER TABLE `',
  tab_name,
  '` CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET ',
  QUOTE(charset),
  ' COLLATE ',
  QUOTE(collation),
  ';'
));
CALL `exec_query`(CONCAT('REPAIR TABLE `', tab_name, '`;'));
CALL `exec_query`(CONCAT('OPTIMIZE TABLE `', tab_name, '`;'));
END LOOP `change_loop`;
CLOSE `charset_cursor`;
SET foreign_key_checks = 1;
END$$

DELIMITER ;

You can place this code inside the file e.g. chg_char_set.sql and execute it e.g. by calling it from MySQL terminal:

SOURCE ~/path-to-the-file/chg_char_set.sql

Then call defined procedure with desired input parameters e.g.

CALL change_character_set('utf8mb4', 'utf8mb4_bin');

Once you've tested the results, you can drop those stored procedures:

DROP PROCEDURE `change_character_set`;
DROP PROCEDURE `exec_query`;