The $DATA_LENGTH function returns the number of characters in a column, plus a terminating null for STRING datatypes. The $DATA_LENGTH function does not trim trailing spaces, unlike the CHAR_LENGTH function.
$DATA_LENGTH should not be confused with CHARACTER_LENGTH and $COLUMN_LENGTH. CHARACTER_LENGTH returns the number of characters in a string, trimmed of trailing spaces. $COLUMN_LENGTH returns the length of the column as declared in the table.
This function returns an INTEGER datatype.
$DATA_LENGTH ( column )
Required. The name of a column, qualified by the table and database as needed.
> select state, description, $data_length(description) len from states; ST DESCRIPTION LEN -- ------------------------------- ----------- AK Alaska 7 AL Alabama 8 AR Arkansas 9 AZ Arizona 8 CA California 11 CO Colorado 9 CT Connecticut 12
See also: