title: PHP <==> MySQL; storing Cyrillic / Scandinavian characters in the database
body: <p>There are so many threads dedicated to this topic, that I feel silly having to ask this.</p>
  
  <p>But, I'm at a total loss as to what the problem could be.</p>
  
  <p>I am trying to insert special characters (cyrillic, scandinavian, etc) into a MySQL database, via PHP (html) form. </p>
  
  <p>Characters like :  Ä,Ö,Å, as well as russian alphabets, etc. </p>
  
  <p>Based on previous threads in this forum, I have tried all the following (inserted right after the MySQL database-connection string) :</p>
  
  <pre><code>    mysqli-&gt;set_charset("utf8");
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This didn't work, so I tried the following :</p>
  
  <pre><code>    mysqli_query("set names 'utf8'");
      mysqli_query("set charset 'utf8'");
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>These are not recommended by PHP.  But, I tried them anyway, but still no luck.</p>
  
  <p>(All my databases, tables, and columns are collated as :  <strong>UTF8_general_ci</strong>)</p>
  
  <p>In addition, all my html forms have the following :</p>
  
  <pre><code>  &lt;meta charset="utf-8"&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>So, I'm at a complete loss as to what I'm doing wrong.  Once the data is sent to the database, it shows up (in the database itself) as rubbish characters  (question marks, and other hieroglyphics).</p>
  
  <p>However, the funny thing is :</p>
  
  <p>(a)  When I view the data on my website, it displays correctly;</p>
  
  <p>(b)  When the data is sent within the body of an email, it also displays correctly</p>
  
  <p>So..........why is it not displaying correctly within the database itself ??</p>