OCTET_LENGTH

Calculates the number of bytes in a string.

Note

To get the length in bytes, see OCTET_LENGTH.

Syntax

The following is the correct syntax for the OCTET_LENGTH function:

OCTET_LEN( text_expr ) --> INT

Arguments

The following table describes the OCTET_LENGTH arguments:

Parameter	Description
`text_expr`	`TEXT` expression

Returns

The OCTET_LENGTH function returns an integer containing the number of bytes in the string.

Notes

The following notes are applicable to the OCTET_LENGTH function:

To get the length in characters, see CHARACTER_LENGTH / CHAR_LENGTH
If the value is NULL, the result is NULL.

Length in Characters and Bytes of Strings

The Length in characters and bytes of strings example is based on the following table and contents:

CREATE TABLE alphabets(line TEXT(50));

INSERT INTO alphabets VALUES
   ('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'), ('กขฃคฅฆงจฉชซฌญฎฏฐฑฒณดตถทธนบปผฝพฟภมยรฤลฦวศษสหฬอฮฯ')
   , ('אבגדהוזחטיכלמנסעפצקרשת');

ASCII characters take up 1 byte per character, while Thai takes up 3 bytes and Hebrew takes up 2 bytes, as shown below:

t=> SELECT LEN(line), CHAR_LENGTH(line), OCTET_LENGTH(line) FROM alphabets;
len | char_length | octet_length
----+-------------+-------------
 26 |          26 |           26
 47 |          47 |          141
 22 |          22 |           44