Storing emojies in mysql - mysql

Question

I would like to store emojies in mysql (version 5.7.18).
My table structure looks like this:
CREATE TABLE `message_message` (
`id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`message` longtext CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci,
`created_at` datetime(6) NOT NULL,
`is_read` tinyint(1) NOT NULL,
`chat_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)) ENGINE=InnoDB AUTO_INCREMENT=1 DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 COLLATE=utf8_bin;
I am trying to save emojies in message field only and I can see that it gets saved with question marks (?☺️???).
Is there a way for me to read these values directly from the table (actually I would like to see emojies in table viewer). I am using SequelPro for viewing table (if that matters).
Exact mysql query that I am running
INSERT INTO message_message(message, created_at, msg_sender_id, chat_id, is_read) VALUES ('💁👍', UTC_TIME(), 110, 164, False)
If I run select query on this table, it looks like this:
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| message |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 😁 |
| 😁💁👍 |
| 💁👍 |
| 💁👍 |
| 💁👍 |
| 💁👍
Does this looks like data is stored correctly?

Answer 1

Apparently, your data is stored correctly.
You provided this string F09F9281F09F918D as a result for SELECT hex(message) for the data inserted with
INSERT INTO message_message(message, created_at, msg_sender_id, chat_id, is_read) VALUES ('💁👍', UTC_TIME(), 110, 164, False)
And if one checks the UTF8 for both emojis:
F0 9F 92 81 for 💁
F0 9F 91 8D for 👍
then you would find that those exactly match with what you already have.
It means your code is correct and if you have any problems with your GUI application - it's a GUI application configuration or unicode support issues and is a bit out of topic for the stackoverflow.
References:
https://unicode-table.com/en/1F481/
https://unicode-table.com/en/1F44D/

Answer 2

I think your table collation must be properly configured too:
CREATE TABLE `message_message` (
`id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`message` longtext CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci,
`created_at` datetime(6) NOT NULL,
`is_read` tinyint(1) NOT NULL,
`chat_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)) ENGINE=InnoDB AUTO_INCREMENT=1 DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4 COLLATE=utf8mb4_bin;

Answer 3

Make sure your table collation is CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_bin, to update this (in your case), the query would be:
ALTER TABLE message_message CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_bin
Make sure your database's default collation is utf8mb4, to update this, the query would be:
SELECT default_character_set_name FROM information_schema.SCHEMATA S WHERE schema_name = "DBNAME";