Storing utf8 data`मेरा भारत महान` in database

Question

I want to store UTF8 in database. I have data in Unicode Hindi and I want to store in MySQL database using php after converting it to HTML character sets. let's say someone enters a bullet (•) character into a text box. When saving that data, should it be converted to •.

Suppose I have data मेरा भारत महान I want to store it in database by converting it to html character. How can I do that? I tried to use htmlentities function but that doesn't work satisfactorily for me.

Why do you want to convert to entities? What is wrong with just using UTF-8? — Quentin, Nov 25 '11 at 10:08
Please define "not satisfactorily". Also seconded, what's wrong with UTF-8? — deceze, Nov 25 '11 at 10:09
`मेरा भारत महान` stores as it is in database I want to convert it in somewhat this kind of format `•` — Rahul Singh, Nov 25 '11 at 10:11
@Rahul but *why*? This doesn't make any sense at all. What problem is leading you to doing this? This sounds like a really dumb idea. — Pekka, Nov 25 '11 at 10:18

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:48

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The • thingies are called HTML Entities. In PHP there is a function that can create these: mb_encode_numericentity^Docs, it's part of the Multibyte String extension (Demo):

$string = 'मेरा भारत महान';
$encoding = 'UTF-8';

$convmap = array(0, 0xffff, 0, 0xffff);
$encoded = mb_encode_numericentity($string, $convmap, $encoding);

echo $encoded; &#2350;&#2375;&#2352;&#2366;&#32;&#2349;&#2366;&#2352;&#2340;&#32;&#2350;&#2361;&#2366;&#2344;

However: You need to know the encoding of your string. In this case I've chosen UTF-8, depending on it you need to modify the $encoding parameter of the function and the $convmap array.

However, don't store it that way into your database. Store it as-is and convert the output encoding after you retrieved the data from your database.

Similar Question: Convert (doublebyte) string to Hex

edited May 23 '17 at 11:48

Community

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answered Nov 25 '11 at 10:16

hakre

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It is also worth mentioning that doing this is probably a very dumb idea in general. (I don't mean your answer, which is fine, but the very idea of converting multibyte characters into HTML entities - my bet is the OP is having charset problems that should be fixed at their core) – Pekka Nov 25 '11 at 10:19
Yes, I added a note that the text should not be stored with HTML entities into the database. That would be one encoding too much. – hakre Nov 25 '11 at 10:20
@pekka: I don't have such problem Even Ic an view my data in DB as-is rather then barcode... – Rahul Singh Nov 25 '11 at 10:26
@Rahul why do you want to do this then? – Pekka Nov 25 '11 at 10:30
@pekka: Just to learn how can I achieve the task..... :D hakre: wat does this conmap defines? pelase explain is it character range? – Rahul Singh Nov 25 '11 at 10:32
@Rahul Using HTML entities is *no longer necessary* if you are using UTF-8 everywhere in your application. But it's your call – Pekka Nov 25 '11 at 10:33
I did and edited my DB to UTF-8 So I won't have any problem in future...but just for learning point of view.... I asked here... Thanks for helping... – Rahul Singh Nov 25 '11 at 10:36
@RahulSingh: `convmap` specifies which from all characters of a charset are being converted into numeric entities. In the example, all are converted. The numbers are hexadecimal in the example. – hakre Nov 25 '11 at 12:51

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 25 '11 at 10:11

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htmlentities has a charset parameter, Try: htmlentities($text, ENT_COMPAT, "UTF-8")

answered Nov 25 '11 at 10:11

Daniel Fekete

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Storing utf8 data`मेरा भारत महान` in database

2 Answers2