How Do I Use the utf8mb4 Character Set to Store Emojis in an RDS for MySQL DB Instance?

To store emojis in an RDS for MySQL DB instance, ensure that:

• The client outputs the utf8mb4 character set.
• The connection supports the utf8mb4 character set. If you want to use a JDBC connection, download MySQL Connector/J 5.1.13 or a later version and leave characterEncoding undefined for the JDBC connection string.
• Configure the RDS DB instance as follows:
  • Setting character_set_server to utf8mb4

    

    1. Log in to the management console.
    2. Click in the upper left corner and select a region.
    3. Click in the upper left corner of the page and choose Databases > Relational Database Service.
    4. On the Instances page, click the instance name.
    5. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Parameters. On the Parameters tab page, locate character_set_server and change its value to utf8mb4.
    6. Click Save. In the displayed dialog box, click Yes.
  • Selecting utf8mb4 for the character set of a database
    1. Log in to the management console.
    2. Click in the upper left corner and select a region.
    3. Click in the upper left corner of the page and choose Databases > Relational Database Service.
    4. On the Instances page, click the instance name.
    5. On the Databases page, click Create Database. In the displayed dialog box, enter a database name and remarks, select the character set utf8mb4, and authorize permissions for users. Then, click OK.
       Figure 1 Creating a database
       
  • Setting the character set of a table to utf8mb4

    

String query = "set names utf8mb4";
stat.execute(query);