OCTET_LENGTH - Teradata Database

OCTET_LENGTH

Purpose  

Returns the length of string_expression in octets when it is converted to the named character set (taking the export width value into consideration).

Syntax  

where:

Syntax element …	Specifies …
string_expression	the character string for which the number of octets is required.
character_set_name	the character set in which the result is to be returned. If character_set_name is not provided, the session character set is assumed. See the list of Teradata-provided character sets in the table on “Usage Notes” on page 297.

ANSI Compliance

This is ANSI SQL:2011 compliant.

Argument Types

The data type of string_expression must be one of the following:

CHARACTER or VARCHAR

UDT that has an implicit cast to a predefined character type

To define an implicit cast for a UDT, use the CREATE CAST statement and specify the AS ASSIGNMENT clause. For more information on CREATE CAST, see SQL Data Definition Language.

Implicit type conversion of UDTs for system operators and functions, including OCTET_LENGTH, is a Teradata extension to the ANSI SQL standard. To disable this extension, set the DisableUDTImplCastForSysFuncOp field of the DBS Control Record to TRUE. For details, see Utilities: Volume 1 (A-K).

For more information on implicit type conversion of UDTs, see Chapter 13: “Data Type Conversions.”

Usage Notes  

Any Shift-Out/Shift-In and trailing GRAPHIC pad characters are included in the result count.

OCTET_LENGTH operates in the same manner in both Teradata and ANSI modes.

IF string_expression is …	THEN …
of type KANJI1	the result is independent of character_set_name.
not CHARACTER data	an error is generated.

OCTET_LENGTH takes the export width value into consideration. For information about export width, see “CREATE USER” in SQL Data Definition Language.

The following table lists the client character sets shipped with Teradata. Although these character sets are shipped with the system, your system administrator must install them individually to become available for use.

Your site might also have site-defined character sets. Check with your system administrator for a complete list of character sets available at your site.

Character Sets		Where Found
ASCII EBCDIC	UTF8 UTF16	Built-in
ARABIC1256_6A0 1 CYRILLIC1251_2A0 a EBCDIC037_0E EBCDIC273_0E EBCDIC277_0E HANGUL949_7R0 a HANGULEBCDIC933_1II HANGULKSC5601_2R4 HEBREW1255_5A0 a KANJI932_1S0 a KANJIEBCDIC5026_0I KANJIEBCDIC5035_0I KANJIEUC_0U KANJISJIS_0S KATAKANAEBCDIC	LATIN1250_1A0 a LATIN1252_0A LATIN1252_3A0 a LATIN1254_7A0 a LATIN1258_8A0 a LATIN1_0A LATIN9_0A SCHEBCDIC935_2IJ SCHGB2312_1T0 SCHINESE936_6R0 a TCHBIG5_1R0 TCHEBCDIC937_3IB TCHINESE950_8R0 a THAI874_4A0 a	DBC.CharTranslationsV

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Examples  

Examples of output from OCTET_LENGTH appear in the following table.

Client Character Set	Server Character Set	string_expression	Result
EBCDIC	LATIN	abcdefgh	8
ASCII	KANJI1	abcdefgh	8
KanjiEBCDIC	KANJI1	AB<CDE>P	11
KanjiEBCDIC	GRAPHIC	MNOP	8 (record mode)
			10 (field mode)
KanjiEUC	KANJISJIS	dA ss2B ss3E	8
KanjiShift-JIS	KANJISJIS	DeF	5
KanjiShift-JIS	UNICODE	ABC	6