php mysql SET NAMES 'utf8' COLLATE 'utf8_unicode_ci' doesn't work with mysqli

Question

I am migrating my site into php mysqli from php mysql_* methods.

I had following code that did the job:

mysql_query(\"SET NAMES \'utf8\' COLLA

Answer 1

You can use mysqli_set_charset

This is the preferred way to change the charset. Using mysqli_query() to set it (such as SET NAMES utf8) is not recommended.

However, to set collation, you will still have to use the SET NAMES query.