Run

mysql -p --default-character-set=utf8

or

mysql -p --default-character-set=utf8mb4

or set:

[mysql]
default_character_set = utf8mb4

—

When you type

SELECT "é" AS letter;

at the prompt of the command line interface of the MariaDB client, the letter with an accent will not be echoed at the command line and the result of the command will be an empty field instead of a field containing the letter "é", as if the next command was issued:

SELECT "" AS letter;

As a workaround, you send letters with accents through a pipeline to the mysql client, typing at the shell prompt:

echo 'SELECT "é" AS letter;' | mysql -p -t --default-character-set=utf8mb4

According to the issues below [1][2], the bug may be related to the EditLine wrapper (libedit).

I have noticed this bug with MariaDB 10.8 and 10.9 on Ubuntu 22.04. Everything worked perfectly with MariaDB 10.5 on Ubuntu 20.04.

Tested with:

• Distro: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (jammy)
• MariaDB version: mysql Ver 15.1 Distrib 10.8.3-MariaDB, for debian-linux-gnu (x86_64) using EditLine wrapper

Related MySQL issues:
[1] https://bugs.mysql.com/bug.php?id=102806
[2] https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mysql-5.7/+bug/1853818