how do I make utf8 the default encoding for my MySQL installation

[Martin Mueller]

Is it possible to make utf8 the default for all databases and transactions
in a MySQL installation?

The current default is Latin1. There is a suggestion on the Web to edit
the my.cnf file as follows


[mysqld]
init_connect=’SET collation_connection = utf8_general_ci’
init_connect=’SET NAMES utf8′
default-character-set=utf8
character-set-server=utf8
collation-server=utf8_general_ci
skip-character-set-client-handshake



On a Mac with MySQL 5.5.17 this produces the error

 [ERROR] /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqld: unknown variable
'default-character-set=utf8'

The Reference Manual is very tortuous but lacks instructions that are
clear to a not very technical user.