To find the collation of a database
mysql> SELECT DEFAULT_COLLATION_NAME FROM information_schema.SCHEMATA WHERE SCHEMA_NAME = 'exampledb' LIMIT 1;
+------------------------+ | DEFAULT_COLLATION_NAME | +------------------------+ | utf8_general_ci | +------------------------+
To find the characterset of a MySQL database
mysql> SELECT default_character_set_name FROM information_schema.SCHEMATA S WHERE schema_name = "exampledb";
