<blockquote>
  <p>Does Craft have a way to handle this without needing to manually adjust my database?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Swap to <a href="https://www.postgresql.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">PostgreSQL</a>? :)</p>

<p>This is more of a MySQL limitation/configuration issue than a Craft/PHP one.</p>

<p>You can alter the charset/collation of the column the plain text field is being saved to <code>utf8_mb4</code> and <code>utf8mb4_general_ci</code> and that should solve it.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-09T21:29:05.557Z
2019-09-09T21:29:05.557Z
Brad Bell
<p>I need to store phonetics for word definitions in a plain text field. An example would be something like "Craft Website" => <code>\ ˈkraft ˈweb-ˌsīt \</code>, like you'd see in a dictionary.</p>

<p>If I try saving <code>\ ˈkraft ˈweb-ˌsīt \</code> in a custom plain text field, I get a database exception, presumably because it takes issue with all the unusual characters not found in UTF-8.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/D8bG8.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/D8bG8.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>Does Craft have a way to handle this without needing to <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24399578/how-to-store-phonetics-in-mysql-database">manually adjust</a> my database?</p>

<craft3><database><field><plaintext>
Store phonetics in plain text field
# Store phonetics in plain text field

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-09-09)

I need to store phonetics for word definitions in a plain text field. An example would be something like "Craft Website" => `\ ˈkraft ˈweb-ˌsīt \`, like you'd see in a dictionary.

If I try saving `\ ˈkraft ˈweb-ˌsīt \` in a custom plain text field, I get a database exception, presumably because it takes issue with all the unusual characters not found in UTF-8.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/D8bG8.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/D8bG8.png)

Does Craft have a way to handle this without needing to [manually adjust](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24399578/how-to-store-phonetics-in-mysql-database) my database?

**Tags:** craft3, database, field, plaintext

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-09-09. Score: 1

> Does Craft have a way to handle this without needing to manually adjust my database?

Swap to [PostgreSQL](https://www.postgresql.org/)? :)

This is more of a MySQL limitation/configuration issue than a Craft/PHP one.

You can alter the charset/collation of the column the plain text field is being saved to `utf8_mb4` and `utf8mb4_general_ci` and that should solve it.


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