title: How can I set MySQL's default collation for utf8 to utf8_unicode_ci?
body: <p>I'm converting a database to the utf8 character set and utf8_unicode_ci collation. When altering a table's character set to utf8, MySQL automatically converts the columns of the table to the default collation for utf8: utf_general_ci. I don't want to run hundreds of alter column commands to convert every column to utf8_unicode_ci, so can I set the default collation for utf8 to utf8_unicode_ci, as shown in information_schema?:</p>
  
  <pre><code>SELECT * FROM information_schema.COLLATIONS WHERE CHARACTER_SET_NAME = 'utf8';
  
  +---------------------------+--------------------+-----+------------+-------------+---------+
  | COLLATION_NAME            | CHARACTER_SET_NAME | ID  | IS_DEFAULT | IS_COMPILED | SORTLEN |
  +---------------------------+--------------------+-----+------------+-------------+---------+
  | utf8_general_ci           | utf8               |  33 | Yes        | Yes         |       1 |
  | utf8_bin                  | utf8               |  83 |            | Yes         |       1 |
  | utf8_unicode_ci           | utf8               | 192 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_icelandic_ci         | utf8               | 193 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_latvian_ci           | utf8               | 194 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_romanian_ci          | utf8               | 195 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_slovenian_ci         | utf8               | 196 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_polish_ci            | utf8               | 197 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_estonian_ci          | utf8               | 198 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_spanish_ci           | utf8               | 199 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_swedish_ci           | utf8               | 200 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_turkish_ci           | utf8               | 201 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_czech_ci             | utf8               | 202 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_danish_ci            | utf8               | 203 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_lithuanian_ci        | utf8               | 204 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_slovak_ci            | utf8               | 205 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_spanish2_ci          | utf8               | 206 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_roman_ci             | utf8               | 207 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_persian_ci           | utf8               | 208 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_esperanto_ci         | utf8               | 209 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_hungarian_ci         | utf8               | 210 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_sinhala_ci           | utf8               | 211 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_german2_ci           | utf8               | 212 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_croatian_mysql561_ci | utf8               | 213 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_unicode_520_ci       | utf8               | 214 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_vietnamese_ci        | utf8               | 215 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_general_mysql500_ci  | utf8               | 223 |            | Yes         |       1 |
  | utf8_croatian_ci          | utf8               | 576 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  | utf8_myanmar_ci           | utf8               | 577 |            | Yes         |       8 |
  +---------------------------+--------------------+-----+------------+-------------+---------+
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Note the <code>IS_DEFAULT</code> column.</p>
  
  <p>Please also note that I'm not asking how to convert a database, table or column using <code>ALTER</code>!</p>
  
  <p>Additionally adding <code>collation_server = utf8_unicode_ci</code> to my.cnf does not work.</p>