# SHOW CHARACTER SET

Shows supported character sets and the default collation for each character set.

## Syntax

```sql
SHOW {CHAR SET | CHARSET | CHARACTER SET}
   [WHERE Charset = '<charset_name>']
```

## Output

The following table describes the columns returned by the `SHOW CHARACTER SET` command.

| Column            | Description                                                                             |
| ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Charset           | The name of the character set.                                                          |
| Description       | Description of the character set.                                                       |
| Default collation | The default collation for this character set.                                           |
| Maxlen            | The maximum number of bytes required to store a single character in this character set. |

## Remarks

* Refer to [Character Sets Supported](https://docs.singlestore.com/db/v9.1/reference/sql-reference/character-encoding/character-sets-supported.md) for information about supported character sets and their usage.
* Available character sets can also be seen using the [CHARACTER\_SETS](https://docs.singlestore.com/db/v9.1/reference/information-schema-reference/cluster-component/character-sets.md) view.
* Refer to [Specifying Character Set and Collation for Clusters](https://docs.singlestore.com/db/v9.1/reference/sql-reference/character-encoding/specifying-character-set-and-collation-for-clusters.md) for information on specifying character sets.

## Example

```sql
singlestore> SHOW CHARACTER SET;

```

```output

+---------+-----------------------+--------------------+--------+
| Charset | Description           | Default collation  | Maxlen |
+---------+-----------------------+--------------------+--------+
| utf8mb4 | UTF-8 Unicode         | utf8mb4_bin        |      4 |
| utf8    | UTF-8 Unicode         | utf8_bin           |      3 |
| binary  | Binary pseudo charset | binary             |      1 |
+---------+-----------------------+--------------------+--------+
```

***

Modified at: October 29, 2025

Source: [/db/v9.1/reference/sql-reference/show-commands/show-character-set/](https://docs.singlestore.com/db/v9.1/reference/sql-reference/show-commands/show-character-set/)

(An index of the documentation is available at /llms.txt)