将字符串转换为utf-8

Question

I've been reading up on a lot of answers on here, but whatever i try i cannot work out how to fix this.

The Problem

I have data which is being imported into a database. This data has special chars like ' “ ” - é (but not limited to just those).

They are displaying as black diamonds when the data is displayed.

What I have tried

I followed this: http://kunststube.net/frontback/ but when I do the import, it just breaks at the first ' and ignores the rest of the string (still inserts correctly).

I've tried converting the string with utf8_encode() , I've tried htmlentities() and I've tried using mb_convert_encoding() all have varied results but don't actually resolve the problem fully, some remove some characters, some give lil squares on IE etc.

What I think the problem is

I think the problem is to do with not knowing the original encoding, so I run mb_detect_encoding() and it returns nothing - so what does that mean? I guess that it cannot detect the encoding.

So what I'm struggling with is how to encode it to utf8 without breaking the string so I can store it properly.

Observations

If I set header('Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8'); we get the black diamond, but if I set header('Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1'); it displays correctly.

So knowing that - should I be displaying my whole website in ISO-8859-1 OR should I be converting that string to utf8.. is there a preference on how to do this?

When the DB was latin1 and i didn't include a charset in the PDO connection, the data was stored correctly in the database

Other

I am using PDO

new PDO("mysql:host=" . $G['PDO_HOST'] . ";dbname=" . $G['PDO_DB'] . ";charset=utf-8", $G['PDO_USER'], $G['PDO_PASS'],array(PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_INIT_COMMAND => "SET NAMES 'utf8'"));

a copy of a problem string:

Informed by his eclectic background and varied passions for décor, travel, entertaining and food, Nathan Turner’s American Style will appeal to readers looking to incorporate Turner’s stylish and relaxed aesthetic into their home and life.

Any input on this would be really appreciated - been struggling for a while on this

UPDATE

Here is my table

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `page` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `title` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `url` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `summary` text NOT NULL,
  `content` text NOT NULL,
  `search` text NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM  DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 AUTO_INCREMENT=937 ;

So the table is utf8 format.

I have changed the DB connection to:

$dbc = new PDO("mysql:host=" . $G['PDO_HOST'] . ";dbname=" . $G['PDO_DB'], $G['PDO_USER'], $G['PDO_PASS']);
$dbc->query("SET NAMES utf8");

As "Your Common Sense" pointed out about the PHP version.

But now I have this all set, it cuts of the insert at the first '

String: With a style that is accessible and chic, Turner's aesthetic is Nate meets Colin and the Magazine.

Stored: With a style that is accessible and chic, Turner

UPDATE 2

I am using prepared statements.. so the content that is breaking is here:

$stmt->bindParam(':content',$content, PDO::PARAM_STR);

Answer 1

charset=utf8
           ^ should be NO dash here

Also, if your PHP version below 5.3.6, it won't work anyway, SET NAMES utf8 query have to be run after connect.

As for the inserts, them doesn't cut anything. It's your HTML fields.

to output an HTML attribute, always use htmlspecialchars with ENT_QUOTES flag.

Answer 2

在数据库中，在表中将排序规则类型的特定字段设置为“ utf8_general_ci”。