🚀 How to Fix “Unknown collation: ‘utf8mb4_0900_ai_ci’” in cPanel

If you use MySQL or MariaDB, you might have encountered the following error:

Unknown collation: 'utf8mb4_0900_ai_ci'

🔎 Why This Happens

This error usually occurs when you try to import a database from a newer MySQL/MariaDB version into an older version. For example:

• MySQL 8.0 → MariaDB 10.3

🛠 Step-by-Step Solution

1. Upload the SQL File

First, upload your database .sql file via cPanel → File Manager.

2. Open Terminal

Go to Terminal in cPanel.

3. Navigate to the Folder

Change directory to the folder where the .sql file was uploaded:

cd path/to/your/folder

Replace path/to/your/folder with the actual folder path.

4. Run the Replacement Command

Execute the following command to fix the collation:

sed -e 's/utf8mb4_0900_ai_ci/utf8mb4_unicode_ci/g' -i myfilename.sql

Replace myfilename.sql with your actual SQL file name.

This command replaces all instances of utf8mb4_0900_ai_ci with utf8mb4_unicode_ci in the SQL file.

5. Download and Import

Download the modified SQL file from File Manager and import it again via phpMyAdmin.

✅ Result

Your database will now import successfully without the “Unknown collation: ‘utf8mb4_0900_ai_ci’” error.