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SQL Escape Sequences : Scalar Functions : String Functions
 

String Functions

The following table lists string functions. The following arguments can be used with these functions:
• string_exp can be a column name, a string literal, or the result of another scalar function, where the underlying data type is SQL_CHAR or SQL_WCHAR, SQL_VARCHAR or SQL_WVARCHAR, or SQL_LONGVARCHAR or SQL_WLONGVARCHAR.
• start, length, and count can be the result of another scalar function or a literal numeric value, where the underlying data type is SQL_TINYINT, SQL_SMALLINT, or SQL_INTEGER.
The string functions are one-based; that is, the first character in the string is the character 1. Character string literals must be enclosed by single quotation marks.
 
Table 36: Scalar String Functions  
Function
Returns
ASCII(string_exp)
The ASCII code of the leftmost character of string_exp as an integer.
BIT_LENGTH(string_exp)
The length, in bits, of the string expression.
CHAR(code)
The character with the ASCII code specified by code. code should be between 0 and 255; otherwise, the return value depends on the data source.
CHAR_LENGTH(string_exp)
The length, in characters, of the string expression, when the string expression is a character data type; otherwise, the length, in bytes, of the string expression (the lowest integer that is not less than the number of bits divided by 8). (This function is the same as the CHARACTER_LENGTH function.)
CHARACTER_LENGTH(string_exp)
The length, in characters, of the string expression, when the string expression is a character data type; otherwise, the length, in bytes, of the string expression (the lowest integer that is not less than the number of bits divided by 8). (This function is the same as the CHAR_LENGTH function.)
CONCAT(string_exp1, string_exp2)
The string resulting from concatenating string_exp2 and string_exp1. The string is system dependent.
For more information on nullability, refer to the Nullability section of the OpenAccess SDK SQL Reference.
DIFFERENCE(string_exp1, string_exp2)
An integer indicating the difference between the values returned by the SOUNDEX function for string_exp1 and string_exp2.
INSERT(string_exp1, start, length, string_exp2)
A string where length characters have been deleted from string_exp1 beginning at start and where string_exp2 has been inserted into string_exp beginning at start.
LCASE(string_exp)
Uppercase characters in string_exp converted to lowercase.
LEFT(string_exp,count)
The count of characters of string_exp.
LENGTH(string_exp)
The number of characters in string_exp, excluding trailing blanks and the string termination character.
LOCATE(string_exp1, string_exp2[,start])
The starting position of the first occurrence of string_exp1 in string_exp2. If start is not specified, the search begins with the first character position in string_exp2. If start is specified, the search begins with the character position indicated by start. The first character position in string_exp2 is indicated by 1. If string_exp1 is not found, 0 is returned.
LOWER(string_exp)
Uppercase characters in string_exp converted to lowercase.
LTRIM(string_exp)
The characters of string_exp, with leading blanks removed.
OCTET_LENGTH(string_exp)
The length, in bytes, of the string expression. The result is the lowest integer that is not less than the number of bits divided by 8.
POSITION(character_exp IN character_exp)
The position of the first character expression in the second character expression. The result is a numeric with an implementation-defined precision and a scale of 0.
REPEAT(string_exp, count)
A string composed of string_exp repeated count times.
REPLACE(string_exp1, string_exp2, string_exp3)
Replaces all occurrences of string_exp2 in string_exp1 with string_exp3.
RIGHT(string_exp, count)
The rightmost count of characters in string_exp.
RTRIM(string_exp)
The characters of string_exp with trailing blanks removed.
SPACE(count)
A string consisting of count spaces.
SUBSTR(string_exp, start, length)
SUBSTRING(string_exp, start, length)
A string derived from string_exp, beginning at the character position start for length characters.
UCASE(string_exp)
UPPER(string_exp)
Lowercase characters in string_exp converted to uppercase.