title: utf8_encode and accented characters dilemma?
body: <p>I am facing a paradox in decoding with <code>utf8_encode</code> decode. I have a MySQL database with uft8 collation and whose fields have the <code>utf8_general</code> coding. I have my php file in utf8, and in my HTML pages I have specified in the header the utf8 charset. </p>
  
  <p>My problem is that when I select from my table a field containing accented characters (like <em>èçò ùé</em>) and echo that to the browser, I get strange characters. </p>
  
  <p>To resolve my problem, I have to echo <code>$description=utf8_encode($imm['description'])</code>.</p>
  
  <p>My question is why can’t I do the echo directly without having to use <code>uft8_encode</code> every time?</p>