Syntax
------

  [COLLATE 'collation_name'] | DEFAULT}

Description
-----------

Sets 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.

This 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.

ucs2, utf16, utf16le and utf32 are not valid character sets for SET NAMES, as
they cannot be used as client character sets.

The collation clause is optional. If not defined (or if DEFAULT is specified),
the default collation for the character set will be used.

Quotes are optional for the character set or collation clauses.

Examples
--------

SELECT VARIABLE_NAME, SESSION_VALUE 
 FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SYSTEM_VARIABLES WHERE
 VARIABLE_NAME LIKE 'character_set_c%' OR
 VARIABLE_NAME LIKE 'character_set_re%' OR
 VARIABLE_NAME LIKE 'collation_c%';
+--------------------------+-----------------+
| VARIABLE_NAME            | SESSION_VALUE   |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
| CHARACTER_SET_RESULTS    | utf8            |
| CHARACTER_SET_CONNECTION | utf8            |
| CHARACTER_SET_CLIENT     | utf8            |
| COLLATION_CONNECTION     | utf8_general_ci |
+--------------------------+-----------------+


SELECT VARIABLE_NAME, SESSION_VALUE 
 FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SYSTEM_VARIABLES WHERE
 VARIABLE_NAME LIKE 'character_set_c%' OR
 VARIABLE_NAME LIKE 'character_set_re%' OR
 VARIABLE_NAME LIKE 'collation_c%';
+--------------------------+-----------------+
| VARIABLE_NAME            | SESSION_VALUE   |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
| CHARACTER_SET_RESULTS    | big5            |
| CHARACTER_SET_CONNECTION | big5            |
| CHARACTER_SET_CLIENT     | big5            |
| COLLATION_CONNECTION     | big5_chinese_ci |
+--------------------------+-----------------+


SELECT VARIABLE_NAME, SESSION_VALUE 
 FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SYSTEM_VARIABLES WHERE
 VARIABLE_NAME LIKE 'character_set_c%' OR
 VARIABLE_NAME LIKE 'character_set_re%' OR
 VARIABLE_NAME LIKE 'collation_c%';
+--------------------------+---------------+
| VARIABLE_NAME            | SESSION_VALUE |
+--------------------------+---------------+
| CHARACTER_SET_RESULTS    | latin1        |
| CHARACTER_SET_CONNECTION | latin1        |
| CHARACTER_SET_CLIENT     | latin1        |
| COLLATION_CONNECTION     | latin1_bin    |
+--------------------------+---------------+


SELECT VARIABLE_NAME, SESSION_VALUE 
 FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SYSTEM_VARIABLES WHERE
 VARIABLE_NAME LIKE 'character_set_c%' OR
 VARIABLE_NAME LIKE 'character_set_re%' OR
 VARIABLE_NAME LIKE 'collation_c%';
+--------------------------+-------------------+
| VARIABLE_NAME            | SESSION_VALUE     |
+--------------------------+-------------------+
| CHARACTER_SET_RESULTS    | latin1            |
| CHARACTER_SET_CONNECTION | latin1            |
| CHARACTER_SET_CLIENT     | latin1            |
| COLLATION_CONNECTION     | latin1_swedish_ci |
+--------------------------+-------------------+

URL: https://mariadb.com/kb/en/set-names/