How to change default character set to UTF-8 in mysql 5.6

Step 1:- If mysql is already running stop it.

[root@server1 ~]# service mysql stop
Shutting down MySQL..[  OK  ]

Step 2:- Add the following lines in my.cnf file and start mysql.

[root@server1 ~]# vi /etc/my.cnf
[client]
default-character-set=utf8

[mysql]
default-character-set=utf8

[mysqld]
collation-server = utf8_unicode_ci
init-connect='SET NAMES utf8'
character-set-server = utf8


--save & exit (:wq)

[root@server1 ~]# service mysql start

mysql> show variables like 'char%';
+--------------------------+----------------------------+
| Variable_name            | Value                      |
+--------------------------+----------------------------+
| character_set_client     | utf8                       |
| character_set_connection | utf8                       |
| character_set_database   | utf8                       |
| character_set_filesystem | binary                     |
| character_set_results    | utf8                       |
| character_set_server     | utf8                       |
| character_set_system     | utf8                       |
| character_sets_dir       | /usr/share/mysql/charsets/ |
+--------------------------+----------------------------+
8 rows in set (0.02 sec)


mysql> show variables like 'collation%';
+----------------------+-----------------+
| Variable_name        | Value           |
+----------------------+-----------------+
| collation_connection | utf8_general_ci |
| collation_database   | utf8_unicode_ci |
| collation_server     | utf8_unicode_ci |
+----------------------+-----------------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Specify Character Settings per Database:
mysql> create database soumya
    -> DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8
    -> DEFAULT COLLATE utf8_general_ci;
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.06 sec)

Tables created in the database will use utf8 and utf8_general_ci by default for any character columns.

--Done