Hi You still haven't answered whether you're using any output handler, and if so which one. I use output_handler=mb_output_handler > I overloaded the mbstring variables with: > mbstring.func_overload = 6 > Setting it to "7" won't let me even echo something else. Very strange, the only additional function overloaded is mail() and that shouldn't stop you using echo. As well as setting the internal encoding and enabling it with mbstring.encoding_translation = On mbstring.internal_encoding = UTF-8 I would also use: mbstring.language = English ; or German in your case mbstring.detect_order = UTF-8,eucjp-win,sjis-win mbstring.http_input = UTF-8,SJIS,EUC-JP mbstring.http_output = UTF-8 > Is it possible for mbstring to overload the pg-functions I need? No, and it shouldn't be needed. Those functions should be UTF-8 enabled in order to communicate with the database and supply the correct data You're still referring to 'UTF8' which as I pointed out isn't the official name of the encoding system. I have no idea if PHP will recognise it, but to be safe I suggest you use the official 'UTF-8' (hyphen between letters and number) in case it's causing problems. The other thing to be wary of, is output to the console. Some OSes do not support unicode in the console. So unless you're certain yours does, I wouldn't use it as a test. -- Niel Archer -- PHP Database Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php