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ODBC API and scalar functions : Scalar functions : String functions
  

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String functions

The following table lists the string functions that ODBC supports.
The string functions listed accept the following arguments:
*string_exp can be the name of a column, a string literal, or the result of another scalar function, where the underlying data type is SQL_CHAR, SQL_VARCHAR, or SQL_LONGVARCHAR.
*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 character 1.
Character string literals must be surrounded in single quotation marks.
Table 7. Scalar String Functions
Function
Returns
ASCII(string_exp)
ASCII code value of the leftmost character of string_exp as an integer.
BIT_LENGTH(string_exp)
[ODBC 3.0 only]
The length in bits of the string expression.
CHAR(code)
The character with the ASCII code value specified by code. code should be between 0 and 255; otherwise, the return value is data-source dependent.
CHAR_LENGTH(string_exp)
[ODBC 3.0 only]
The length in characters of the string expression, if the string expression is of a character data type; otherwise, the length in bytes of the string expression (the smallest integer not less than the number of bits divided by 8). (This function is the same as the CHARACTER_LENGTH function.)
CHARACTER_LENGTH(string_exp) [ODBC 3.0 only]
The length in characters of the string expression, if the string expression is of a character data type; otherwise, the length in bytes of the string expression (the smallest integer 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.
DIFFERENCE(string_exp1, string_exp2)
An integer value that indicates 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 within 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 the value of start. The first character position in string_exp2 is indicated by the value 1. If string_exp1 is not found, 0 is returned.
LTRIM(string_exp)
The characters of string_exp with leading blanks removed.
OCTET_LENGTH(string_exp)
[ODBC 3.0 only]
The length in bytes of the string expression. The result is the smallest integer not less than the number of bits divided by 8.
POSITION(character_exp IN character_exp)
[ODBC 3.0 only]
The position of the first character expression in the second character expression. The result is an exact 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.
SOUNDEX(string_exp)
A data source dependent string representing the sound of the words in string_exp.
SPACE(count)
A string consisting of count spaces.
SUBSTRING(string_exp, start, length)
A string derived from string_exp beginning at the character position start for length characters.
UCASE(string_exp)
Lowercase characters in string_exp converted to uppercase.