Is there a fast way to change all the collation to utf8_unicode?

Question

I have realised after making about 20 tables that I need to user utf8_unicode as opposed to utf8_general. What is the fastest way to change it using PHPMyAdmin?

I had one idea: Export the database as SQL then using notepad run a find and replace on it and then reimport it... but it sounds like a bit of a headache.

Is there a better way?

Answer 1

You can alter the tables in-place rather than export/import everything:

ALTER TABLE tablename MODIFY columnname TYPESPEC COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci;

for each column whose collation needs changing.

Whether PHPMyAdmin makes that feasible, I don't know.