MySQL Cookbook, 2nd Edition

String Properties

One property of a string is whether it is binary or nonbinary:

• A binary string is a sequence of bytes. It can contain any type of information, such as images, MP3 files, or compressed or encrypted data. A binary string is not associated with a character set, even if you store a value such as abc that looks like ordinary text. Binary strings are compared byte by byte using numeric byte values.

• A nonbinary string is a sequence of characters. It stores text that has a particular character set and collation. The character set defines which characters can be stored in the string. The collation defines the comparison and sorting properties of the characters.

A characteristic of nonbinary strings is that they have a character set. To see which character sets are available, use this statement:

mysql>SHOW CHARACTER SET; +----------+-----------------------------+---------------------+--------+ | Charset | Description | Default collation | Maxlen | +----------+-----------------------------+---------------------+--------+ | big5 | Big5 Traditional Chinese | big5_chinese_ci | 2 | | dec8 | DEC West European | dec8_swedish_ci | 1 | | cp850 | DOS West European | cp850_general_ci | 1 | | hp8 | HP West European | hp8_english_ci | 1 | | koi8r | KOI8-R Relcom Russian | koi8r_general_ci | 1 | | latin1 | cp1252 West European | latin1_swedish_ci | 1 | | latin2 | ISO 8859-2 Central European | latin2_general_ci | 1 | ... | utf8 | UTF-8 Unicode | utf8_general_ci | 3 | | ucs2 | UCS-2 Unicode ...