>> 2) How to handle the fact that the data I receive from the database >> can be stored using any possible charset? Do I need iconv functions >> and convert everything in utf-8? And then convert it back in the >> original charset when I have to write to the DB? > > I'd be interested to hear other's thoughts, but the general consensus these > days is "convert all to UTF-8". Is there an application-requirement-reason > that you'd need to convert data to a different charset at different times? > > In general: > > 1. Raw data (any charset/encoding) > 2. Detect and convert to UTF 8, clean-up, etc. > 3. Store in database/etc > 4. Read/display in UTF 8
Hi all and thanks for the interesting answers! The problem 2) is still the one I'm not completely sure about; in almost all your answers you suppose I can decide how to setup the database but it is not the case. This application has to work with any database settings, I can't force the users to ALTER the database charset and make it UTF-8. So should I have to read and convert on the fly (using PHP ICONV) to UTF-8 from the database and then convert it back again before writing? I can't just assume to work with UTF-8, right? Thanks again. Eugenio -------------------- DaDaBIK - Database Interfaces Kreator http://www.dadabik.org _______________________________________________ New York PHP User Group Community Talk Mailing List http://lists.nyphp.org/mailman/listinfo/talk http://www.nyphp.org/show-participation
