SQL String Functions
SQL String Functions
SQL string functions are used primarily for string manipulation. The following table details the
important string functions:
Name Description
EXPORT_SET Returns a string such that for every bit set in the value bits,
you get an on string and for every unset bit, you get an off
string
FIND_IN_SET Returns the index position of the first argument within the
second argument
ASCIIstr
Returns the numeric value of the leftmost character of the string str. Returns 0 if str is the empty
string. Returns NULL if str is NULL. ASCII works for characters with numeric values from 0 to 255.
BINN
Returns a string representation of the binary value of N, where N is a longlong BIGINT number. This
is equivalent to CONVN, 10, 2. Returns NULL if N is NULL.
BIT_LENGTHstr
Returns the length of the string str in bits.
CHARN, . . . [USINGcharsetname]
CHAR interprets each argument N as an integer and returns a string consisting of the characters
given by the code values of those integers. NULL values are skipped.
CHAR_LENGTHstr
Returns the length of the string str measured in characters. A multi-byte character counts as a
single character. This means that for a string containing five two-byte characters, LENGTH returns
10, whereas CHAR_LENGTH returns 5.
CHARACTER_LENGTHstr
CHARACTER_LENGTH is a synonym for CHAR_LENGTH.
CONCATstr1, str2, . . .
Returns the string that results from concatenating the arguments. May have one or more
arguments. If all arguments are non-binary strings, the result is a non-binary string. If the
arguments include any binary strings, the result is a binary string. A numeric argument is
converted to its equivalent binary string form; if you want to avoid that, you can use an explicit
type cast, as in this example:
Converts numbers between different number bases. Returns a string representation of the number
N, converted from base from_base to to_base. Returns NULL if any argument is NULL. The
argument N is interpreted as an integer, but may be specified as an integer or a string. The
minimum base is 2 and the maximum base is 36. If to_base is a negative number, N is regarded as
a signed number. Otherwise, N is treated as unsigned. CONV works with 64-bit precision.
Returns a string such that for every bit set in the value bits, you get an on string and for every bit
not set in the value, you get an off string. Bits in bits are examined from right to left
fromlow − ordertohigh − orderbits. Strings are added to the result from left to right, separated by the
separator string thedefaultbeingthecommacharacter. , . . The number of bits examined is given by
number_of_bits defaultsto64.
SQL> SELECT EXPORT_SET(5,'Y','N',',',4);
+---------------------------------------------------------+
| EXPORT_SET(5,'Y','N',',',4) |
+---------------------------------------------------------+
| Y,N,Y,N |
+---------------------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
FIND_IN_SETstr, strlist
Returns a value in the range of 1 to N if the string str is in the string list strlist consisting of N
substrings.
FORMATX, D
Formats the number X to a format like '#,###,###.##', rounded to D decimal places, and
returns the result as a string. If D is 0, the result has no decimal point or fractional part.
HEXNo rS
If N_or_S is a string, returns a hexadecimal string representation of N_or_S where each character in
N_or_S is converted to two hexadecimal digits.
INSTRstr, substr
Returns the position of the first occurrence of substring substr in string str. This is the same as the
two-argument form of LOCATE, except that the order of the arguments is reversed.
LCASEstr
LCASE is a synonym for LOWER.
LEFTstr, len
Returns the leftmost len characters from the string str, or NULL if any argument is NULL.
LENGTHstr
Returns the length of the string str, measured in bytes. A multi-byte character counts as multiple
bytes. This means that for a string containing five two-byte characters, LENGTH returns 10,
whereas CHAR_LENGTH returns 5.
Reads the file and returns the file contents as a string. To use this function, the file must be located
on the server host, you must specify the full pathname to the file, and you must have the FILE
privilege. The file must be readable by all and its size less than max_allowed_packet bytes.
If the file does not exist or cannot be read because one of the preceding conditions is not satisfied,
the function returns NULL.
LOWERstr
Returns the string str with all characters changed to lowercase according to the current character
set mapping.
LTRIMstr
Returns the string str with leading space characters removed.
OCTN
Returns a string representation of the octal value of N, where N is a longlong BIGINT number. This
is equivalent to CONVN, 10, 8. Returns NULL if N is NULL.
OCTET_LENGTHstr
OCTET_LENGTH is a synonym for LENGTH.
ORDstr
If the leftmost character of the string str is a multi-byte character, returns the code for that
character, calculated from the numeric values of its constituent bytes using this formula:
If the leftmost character is not a multi-byte character, ORD returns the same value as the ASCII
function.
POSITIONsubstrINstr
POSITIONsubstrINstr is a synonym for LOCATEsubstr, str.
QUOTEstr
Quotes a string to produce a result that can be used as a properly escaped data value in an SQL
statement. The string is returned enclosed by single quotes and with each instance of single quote
′ , backslash ′ \', ASCII NUL, and Control-Z preceded by a backslash. If the argument is NULL, the
return value is the word 'NULL' without enclosing single quotes.
NOTE: Please check if your installation has any bug with this function then don't use this function.
REPEATstr, count
Returns a string consisting of the string str repeated count times. If count is less than 1, returns an
empty string. Returns NULL if str or count are NULL.
Returns the string str with all occurrences of the string from_str replaced by the string to_str.
REPLACE performs a case-sensitive match when searching for from_str.
REVERSEstr
Returns the string str with the order of the characters reversed.
RIGHTstr, len
Returns the rightmost len characters from the string str, or NULL if any argument is NULL.
RTRIMstr
Returns the string str with trailing space characters removed.
SOUNDEXstr
Returns a soundex string from str. Two strings that sound almost the same should have identical
soundex strings. A standard soundex string is four characters long, but the SOUNDEX function
returns an arbitrarily long string. You can use SUBSTRING on the result to get a standard soundex
string. All non-alphabetic characters in str are ignored. All international alphabetic characters
outside the A-Z range are treated as vowels.
SPACEN
Returns a string consisting of N space characters.
STRCMPstr1, str2
Compares two strings and returns 0 if both strings are equal, it returns -1 if the first argument is
smaller than the second according to the current sort order otherwise it returns 1.
SUBSTRINGstr, pos
SUBSTRINGstrFROMpos
SUBSTRINGstr, pos, len
SUBSTRINGstrFROMposFORlen
The forms without a len argument return a substring from string str starting at position pos. The
forms with a len argument return a substring len characters long from string str, starting at
position pos. The forms that use FROM are standard SQL syntax. It is also possible to use a negative
value for pos. In this case, the beginning of the substring is pos characters from the end of the
string, rather than the beginning. A negative value may be used for pos in any of the forms of this
function.
UCASEstr
UCASE is a synonym for UPPER.
UNHEXstr
Performs the inverse operation of HEXstr. That is, it interprets each pair of hexadecimal digits in
the argument as a number and converts it to the character represented by the number. The
resulting characters are returned as a binary string.
The characters in the argument string must be legal hexadecimal digits: '0' .. '9', 'A' .. 'F', 'a' .. 'f'. If
UNHEX encounters any non-hexadecimal digits in the argument, it returns NULL.
UPPERstr
Returns the string str with all characters changed to uppercase according to the current character
set mapping.