I have Xampp installed. In a php file, if I run “error_log(“aãa”);” it outputs “axc3xa3a”. Please help me fix it

The error_log problem isn’t my actual problem, though. I’m trying to figure out the following problem:

I have quilljs running on a page.

I type accents, like “aãa” above.

I grab it with getText, send it to php with $.post (ajax, I believe)

Whatever I try to do with it, it comes out garbled like that.

Specifically what I’m trying to do is this: array_count_values(str_word_count($text, 1));

To find repeated words and later highlight them in the text, basic stuff, only the character encoding problem is making it harder than it should be.

Goddamit are character encoding problems annoying.

I’ve made sure php.ini, my.ini and the html file all have utf-8 encoding. I’m at my wit’s end, please send help.