Wrong encoding being saved in MySql database..Windows 7, Wamp server

Question

I am using Wamp server 2.1 on windows 7 with PHP 5.3.4, Apache 2.2.17, MySql 5.1.53.

httpd.conf: AddDefaultCharset "iso-8859-1"

php.ini: default_charset = "iso-8859-1"

I am using php mysqli class to insert data in a table with latin1 encoding, and column with latin1 encoding, latin1_swedish_ci collation. In the php file, I set charset as ISO-8859-1 via meta tag, I render a form with accept-charset="ISO-8859-1" attribute. I use mysqli::set_charset to set charset of the database connection to latin1, but still the data being entered is corrupted. As per my understanding, the data is valid latin1 characters.

The code:

$dbMain->set_charset('latin1');
$query = "INSERT INTO `table` (" . implode(',', array_keys($data)) . ") VALUES ('" . implode("','", array_values($data)) . "')";
$dbMain->query($query);

The data being corrupted: "the characters Ä, Ö, Ü, ä, ö, ü, and ß. Shop-Produkte für die Elektronik"

When I read the data through latin1 connection, it gives me garbage (black diamonds with question marks) instead of the data I inserted. When I read the data through utf8 connection, it shows me proper characters. Same in SqlYog (MySql client).. If I run "SET NAMES latin1" and browse the table, I see barbage characters. If I run "SET NAMES utf8" and browse the table, I see proper text. What's wrong here?

Update:

I ran the following queries in MySql client:

SET NAMES latin1;
SELECT my_column,HEX(my_column) FROM my_table;

and got this result

|my_column|HEX(my_column)|
--------------------------
|    ß    |     C39F     |    (entered manually from MySql client)
|   �    |       DF     |    (entered from php via latin1 connection)

Has my database gone cucu?

What I perceive is that the data is being inserted in utf8 encoding. But why? — Adee
When I set names to latin1, it behaves as utf8 and when I set names to utf8, it behaves as latin1. Please help — Adee

Piotr Kowalski Piotr Kowalski · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-12T14:27:44

A few things are important:

what encoding are you using while reading/viewing the data from data base?
how are you viewing your data from DB? through mySQL admin or some php script or html page?
what encoding is set in the browser then?
what encoding did you save your php file with?

Have you thought about encoding conversion? I want help you, because I spent some time about latin2 and utf8 encoding (polish language), but I need to have more information from You.

Wrong encoding being saved in MySql database..Windows 7, Wamp server

2 Answers