Syntax\n------\n\nSET NAMES {'charset_name'\n    [COLLATE 'collation_name'] | DEFAULT}\n\nDescription\n-----------\n\nSets the character_set_client, character_set_connection, character_set_results and, implicitly, the collation_connection session system variables to the specified character set and collation.\n\nThis determines which character set the client will use to send statements to the server, and the server will use for sending results back to the client.\n\nucs2, utf16, utf16le and utf32 are not valid character sets for SET NAMES, as they cannot be used as client character sets.\n\nThe collation clause is optional. If not defined (or if DEFAULT is specified), the default collation for the character set will be used.\n\nQuotes are optional for the character set or collation clauses.\n\nExamples\n--------\n\nSET NAMES DEFAULT;                \n\nSELECT VARIABLE_NAME, SESSION_VALUE \n    FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SYSTEM_VARIABLES WHERE \n    VARIABLE_NAME LIKE 'character_set_con%' OR \n    VARIABLE_NAME LIKE 'character_set_cl%' OR \n    VARIABLE_NAME LIKE 'character_set_re%' OR \n    VARIABLE_NAME LIKE 'collation_c%';\n+--------------------------+-----------------------+\n| VARIABLE_NAME            | SESSION_VALUE         |\n+--------------------------+-----------------------+\n| CHARACTER_SET_RESULTS    | utf8mb4               |\n| CHARACTER_SET_CONNECTION | utf8mb4               |\n| CHARACTER_SET_CLIENT     | utf8mb4               |\n| COLLATION_CONNECTION     | utf8mb4_uca1400_ai_ci |\n+--------------------------+-----------------------+\n\nURL: https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/data-types/string-data-types/character-sets/set-names