In MySQL, CHARSET() is a built in function that returns the character set of its string argument.

We provide the string when we call the function.

Syntax

The syntax goes like this:

CHARSET(str)

Where str is the string for which we want the character set of.

Example

Here’s a simple example:

SELECT CHARSET('Coffee');

Result:

+-------------------+
| CHARSET('Coffee') |
+-------------------+
| utf8mb4           |
+-------------------+

And here it is again after we convert the same string to utf16:

SELECT CHARSET(CONVERT('Coffee' USING utf16));

Result:

+----------------------------------------+
| CHARSET(CONVERT('Coffee' USING utf16)) |
+----------------------------------------+
| utf16                                  |
+----------------------------------------+

And here’s another example that uses Thai characters:

SELECT CHARSET(_tis620'ไม้เมือง');

Result:

+--------------------------------------------+
| CHARSET(_tis620'ไม้เมือง')                  |
+--------------------------------------------+
| tis620                                     |
+--------------------------------------------+

Wrong Argument Type

Passing an argument that is not a string results in the word binary being returned.

SELECT CHARSET(45);

Result:

+-------------+
| CHARSET(45) |
+-------------+
| binary      |
+-------------+

Null Arguments

Passing null results in the word binary being returned.

SELECT CHARSET(null);

Result:

+---------------+
| CHARSET(null) |
+---------------+
| binary        |
+---------------+

Missing Argument

Calling CHARSET() without passing an argument results in an error:

SELECT CHARSET();

Result:

ERROR 1064 (42000): You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ')' at line 1