How do I see what character set a MySQL database / table / column is?

Question

What is the (default) charset for:

• MySQL database

• MySQL table

• MySQL column

Answer 1

To see default collation of the database:

USE db_name;
SELECT @@character_set_database, @@collation_database;

To see collation of the table:

SHOW TABLE STATUS where name like 'table_name';

To see collation of the columns:

SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM table_name;

To see the default character set of a table

SHOW CREATE TABLE table_name;