LENGTH

Syntax

LENGTH(str)

Description

Returns the length of the string str.

In the default mode, when Oracle mode from MariaDB 10.3 is not set, the length is measured in bytes. In this case, 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.

When running Oracle mode from MariaDB 10.3, the length is measured in characters, and LENGTH is a synonym for CHAR_LENGTH().

If str is not a string value, it is converted into a string. If str is NULL, the function returns NULL.

Examples

SELECT LENGTH('MariaDB');
+-------------------+
| LENGTH('MariaDB') |
+-------------------+
|                 7 |
+-------------------+

When Oracle mode from MariaDB 10.3 is not set:

SELECT CHAR_LENGTH('π'), LENGTH('π'), LENGTHB('π'), OCTET_LENGTH('π');
+-------------------+--------------+---------------+--------------------+
| CHAR_LENGTH('π')  | LENGTH('π')  | LENGTHB('π')  | OCTET_LENGTH('π')  |
+-------------------+--------------+---------------+--------------------+
|                 1 |            2 |             2 |                  2 |
+-------------------+--------------+---------------+--------------------+

In Oracle mode from MariaDB 10.3:

SELECT CHAR_LENGTH('π'), LENGTH('π'), LENGTHB('π'), OCTET_LENGTH('π');
+-------------------+--------------+---------------+--------------------+
| CHAR_LENGTH('π')  | LENGTH('π')  | LENGTHB('π')  | OCTET_LENGTH('π')  |
+-------------------+--------------+---------------+--------------------+
|                 1 |            1 |             2 |                  2 |
+-------------------+--------------+---------------+--------------------+

See Also

• CHAR_LENGTH()
• LENGTHB()
• OCTET_LENGTH()
• Oracle mode from MariaDB 10.3