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Oracle® Database SQL Reference 10g Release 2 (10.2) Part Number B14200-02 |
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# LENGTH

Syntax

length::=

Description of the illustration length.gif

Purpose

The `LENGTH` functions return the length of `char`. `LENGTH` calculates length using characters as defined by the input character set. `LENGTHB` uses bytes instead of characters. `LENGTHC` uses Unicode complete characters. `LENGTH2` uses UCS2 code points. `LENGTH4` uses UCS4 code points.

`char` can be any of the datatypes `CHAR`, `VARCHAR2`, `NCHAR`, `NVARCHAR2`, `CLOB`, or `NCLOB`. The return value is of datatype `NUMBER`. If `char` has datatype `CHAR`, then the length includes all trailing blanks. If `char` is null, then this function returns null.

Restriction on LENGTHB The `LENGTHB` function is supported for single-byte LOBs only. It cannot be used with `CLOB` and `NCLOB` data in a multibyte character set.

Examples

The following example uses the `LENGTH` function using a single-byte database character set:

    SELECT LENGTH('CANDIDE') "Length in characters"
       FROM DUAL;

    Length in characters
    --------------------
                       7

The next example assumes a double-byte database character set.

    SELECT LENGTHB ('CANDIDE') "Length in bytes"
       FROM DUAL;

    Length in bytes
    ---------------
                 14