Is N'literal' needed in SQL for UTF-8/National Character Set columns

[Aaron Harshbarger]

Is there any need for wrapping textual values within a SQL statement for columns that are UTF-8 (National Character Set)? I know on SQLServer we have to ensure that we wrap our textual values with N'literal'....but is this needed for MySQL? Will it hurt if they are wrapped...or is it just tream them the same on MySQL?


Example where name is NVARCHAR(SQLServer) or VARCHAR/UTF-8 (MySQL):

SELECT *
FROM table1
WHERE name = N'Joe'


Here is the documentation that I'm referring to that confuses me whether it's required or not? Maybe it's just mentioning it to be compatible with other database platforms (i.e. SQLServer)

9.3.6. National Character Set http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/charset-national.html

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-Aaron