Can't insert arabic text into mysql database using mysql prompt I had a local table with arabic values.when exported i got the following query.

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `type`;
 CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `type` (
 `bs_id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
 `types` varchar(250) NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`bs_id`)
 ) ENGINE=InnoDB AUTO_INCREMENT=8 DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;

-- 
-- Data for table `business_type`
-- 

INSERT INTO `type` (`bs_id`, `types`) VALUES
 ('1', 'صناعة'),
 ('2', 'معارض'),
 ('3', 'أسواق'),
 ('4', 'إستيراد وتوزيع'),
 ('5', 'خدمات'),
 ('6', 'إستشارات'),
 ('7', 'أخرى');


I want to create this table on server so i just copied the above query and run it on server terminal.The query works fine but the values in table is showing like ".....".

tried this

 SET NAMES utf8;


before inserting the values,but failed.I don't have a cpanel installed on server.Command prompt is the only option.

Can anyone help!!

Thanks
Since you said you can only use the Command prompt, my suggestion is to shift the character set to one that supports Arabic within the mysql client:

I just ran these commands on my laptop at home (Windows 8.1)

mysql&gt; select * from information_schema.character_sets where description like '%arabic%';
+--------------------+----------------------+----------------+--------+
| CHARACTER_SET_NAME | DEFAULT_COLLATE_NAME | DESCRIPTION    | MAXLEN |
+--------------------+----------------------+----------------+--------+
| cp1256             | cp1256_general_ci    | Windows Arabic |      1 |
+--------------------+----------------------+----------------+--------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql&gt; select * from information_schema.global_variables where variable_name like 'version%';
+-------------------------+------------------------------+
| VARIABLE_NAME           | VARIABLE_VALUE               |
+-------------------------+------------------------------+
| VERSION                 | 5.6.21                       |
| VERSION_COMMENT         | MySQL Community Server (GPL) |
| VERSION_COMPILE_MACHINE | x86_64                       |
| VERSION_COMPILE_OS      | Win64                        |
+-------------------------+------------------------------+
4 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql&gt;


Start up the mysql client using --default-character-set like this

mysql -uroot -p --default-character-set=cp1256


In the event you are running on Linux, make sure you run

select * from information_schema.character_sets where description like '%arabic%';


and make sure you have a character set that support Arabic

Give it a Try !!!

There is a nice post in StackOverflow Save Data in Arabic in MySQL database. It has three nice queries to help inspect your database to make sure data can be saved with the right character set.