Question

Adding rows with special characters to MySQL

Asked by: alex_wareing

Ok I'm having a problem with non-english characters in my data. I have managed to track the issue down to the data import into mysql. The SQL i'm using is attached, the data file i am trying to import is here:
http://download.geonames.org/export/dump/FR.zip

If i open the FR.txt file in my text editor, coda. I see the entries and the correct character for example the first row shows as "Peyrat-le-Château". All good so far. Then I login to mysql using the terminal, create the table and database and insert the txt file and when i view the row it returns "Peyrat-le-Château".

I can't work out whats going wrong with the import or the tables, also if i try:
INSERT INTO geoname (geonameid, name) VALUES (2967103, 'Peyrat-le-Château');
I get the same issue, how can I add these values with special characters in the correct way?

CREATE DATABASE geonames; 
USE geonames; 
 
CREATE TABLE geoname ( 
geonameid int PRIMARY KEY, 
name varchar(200), 
asciiname varchar(200), 
alternatenames varchar(4000), 
latitude decimal(9,7), 
longitude decimal(9,7), 
fclass char(1), 
fcode varchar(10), 
country varchar(2), 
cc2 varchar(60), 
admin1 varchar(20), 
admin2 varchar(80), 
admin3 varchar(20), 
admin4 varchar(20), 
population int, 
elevation int, 
gtopo30 int, 
timezone varchar(40), 
moddate date 
) CHARACTER SET utf8; 
 
LOAD DATA INFILE '/data/FR.txt' INTO TABLE geoname (geonameid,name,asciiname,alternatenames,latitude,longitude,fclass,fcode,country,cc2, admin1,admin2,admin3,admin4,population,elevation,gtopo30,timezone,moddate);

                                  
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Asked On
2009-08-19 at 16:00:16ID24666635
Topics

MySQL Server

,

SQL Query Syntax

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
1

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Answers

 

by: nemws1Posted on 2009-08-19 at 20:37:38ID: 25139223

The LOAD DATA INFILE is the problem - it's probably loading via latin1.  Force it to load 'utf8' as well.  It appears to be working for me.  After loading, the ^a shows up correctly for the first entry.

LOAD DATA INFILE '/data/FR.txt' INTO TABLE geoname CHARACTER SET utf8 (geonameid,name,asciiname,alternatenames,latitude,longitude,fclass,fcode,country,cc2, admin1,admin2,admin3,admin4,population,elevation,gtopo30,timezone,moddate);

                                              
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