Chapter 12 Functions and Operators

If one or both arguments are NULL, the result of the comparison is NULL, except for the NULL-safe <=> equality comparison operator. For NULL <=> NULL, the result is true. No conversion is needed.

If both arguments in a comparison operation are strings, they are compared as strings.

If both arguments are integers, they are compared as integers.

Hexadecimal values are treated as binary strings if not compared to a number.

If one of the arguments is a TIMESTAMP or DATETIME column and the other argument is a constant, the constant is converted to a timestamp before the comparison is performed. This is done to be more ODBC-friendly. This is not done for the arguments to IN(). To be safe, always use complete datetime, date, or time strings when doing comparisons. For example, to achieve best results when using BETWEEN with date or time values, use CAST() to explicitly convert the values to the desired data type.

A single-row subquery from a table or tables is not considered a constant. For example, if a subquery returns an integer to be compared to a DATETIME value, the comparison is done as two integers. The integer is not converted to a temporal value. To compare the operands as DATETIME values, use CAST() to explicitly convert the subquery value to DATETIME.

If one of the arguments is a decimal value, comparison depends on the other argument. The arguments are compared as decimal values if the other argument is a decimal or integer value, or as floating-point values if the other argument is a floating-point value.

In all other cases, the arguments are compared as floating-point (real) numbers.

Consistent conversion results across platforms, which eliminates, for example, Unix versus Windows conversion differences.

Accurate representation of values in cases where results previously did not provide sufficient precision, such as for values close to IEEE limits.

Conversion of numbers to string format with the best possible precision. The precision of dtoa is always the same or better than that of the standard C library functions.

F -> D conversion is done with the best possible precision, returning D as the shortest string that yields F when read back in and rounded to the nearest value in native binary format as specified by IEEE.

D -> F conversion is done such that F is the nearest native binary number to the input decimal string D.

CASE value WHEN [compare_value] THEN result [WHEN [compare_value] THEN result ...] [ELSE result] END

CASE WHEN [condition] THEN result [WHEN [condition] THEN result ...] [ELSE result] END

The first version returns the result where value=compare_value. The second version returns the result for the first condition that is true. If there was no matching result value, the result after ELSE is returned, or NULL if there is no ELSE part.

mysql> SELECT CASE 1 WHEN 1 THEN 'one'
    ->     WHEN 2 THEN 'two' ELSE 'more' END;
        -> 'one'
mysql> SELECT CASE WHEN 1>0 THEN 'true' ELSE 'false' END;
        -> 'true'
mysql> SELECT CASE BINARY 'B'
    ->     WHEN 'a' THEN 1 WHEN 'b' THEN 2 END;
        -> NULL

The return type of a CASE expression is the compatible aggregated type of all return values, but also depends on the context in which it is used. If used in a string context, the result is returned as a string. If used in a numeric context, the result is returned as a decimal, real, or integer value.

IF(expr1,expr2,expr3)

If expr1 is TRUE (expr1 <> 0 and expr1 <> NULL) then IF() returns expr2; otherwise it returns expr3. IF() returns a numeric or string value, depending on the context in which it is used.

mysql> SELECT IF(1>2,2,3);
        -> 3
mysql> SELECT IF(1<2,'yes','no');
        -> 'yes'
mysql> SELECT IF(STRCMP('test','test1'),'no','yes');
        -> 'no'

If only one of expr2 or expr3 is explicitly NULL, the result type of the IF() function is the type of the non-NULL expression.

The default return type of IF() (which may matter when it is stored into a temporary table) is calculated as follows.

If expr2 and expr3 are both strings, the result is case sensitive if either string is case sensitive.

IFNULL(expr1,expr2)

If expr1 is not NULL, IFNULL() returns expr1; otherwise it returns expr2. IFNULL() returns a numeric or string value, depending on the context in which it is used.

mysql> SELECT IFNULL(1,0);
        -> 1
mysql> SELECT IFNULL(NULL,10);
        -> 10
mysql> SELECT IFNULL(1/0,10);
        -> 10
mysql> SELECT IFNULL(1/0,'yes');
        -> 'yes'

The default result value of IFNULL(expr1,expr2) is the more “general” of the two expressions, in the order STRING, REAL, or INTEGER. Consider the case of a table based on expressions or where MySQL must internally store a value returned by IFNULL() in a temporary table:

mysql> CREATE TABLE tmp SELECT IFNULL(1,'test') AS test;
mysql> DESCRIBE tmp;
+-------+--------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type         | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-------+--------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| test  | varbinary(4) | NO   |     |         |       |
+-------+--------------+------+-----+---------+-------+

In this example, the type of the test column is VARBINARY(4).

NULLIF(expr1,expr2)

Returns NULL if expr1 = expr2 is true, otherwise returns expr1. This is the same as CASE WHEN expr1 = expr2 THEN NULL ELSE expr1 END.

mysql> SELECT NULLIF(1,1);
        -> NULL
mysql> SELECT NULLIF(1,2);
        -> 1

ASCII(str)

Returns the numeric value of the leftmost character of the string str. Returns 0 if str is the empty string. Returns NULL if str is NULL. ASCII() works for 8-bit characters.

mysql> SELECT ASCII('2');
        -> 50
mysql> SELECT ASCII(2);
        -> 50
mysql> SELECT ASCII('dx');
        -> 100

See also the ORD() function.

BIN(N)

Returns a string representation of the binary value of N, where N is a longlong (BIGINT) number. This is equivalent to CONV(N,10,2). Returns NULL if N is NULL.

mysql> SELECT BIN(12);
        -> '1100'

BIT_LENGTH(str)

Returns the length of the string str in bits.

mysql> SELECT BIT_LENGTH('text');
        -> 32

CHAR(N,... [USING charset_name])

CHAR() interprets each argument N as an integer and returns a string consisting of the characters given by the code values of those integers. NULL values are skipped.

mysql> SELECT CHAR(77,121,83,81,'76');
        -> 'MySQL'
mysql> SELECT CHAR(77,77.3,'77.3');
        -> 'MMM'

CHAR() arguments larger than 255 are converted into multiple result bytes. For example, CHAR(256) is equivalent to CHAR(1,0), and CHAR(256*256) is equivalent to CHAR(1,0,0):

mysql> SELECT HEX(CHAR(1,0)), HEX(CHAR(256));
+----------------+----------------+
| HEX(CHAR(1,0)) | HEX(CHAR(256)) |
+----------------+----------------+
| 0100           | 0100           |
+----------------+----------------+
mysql> SELECT HEX(CHAR(1,0,0)), HEX(CHAR(256*256));
+------------------+--------------------+
| HEX(CHAR(1,0,0)) | HEX(CHAR(256*256)) |
+------------------+--------------------+
| 010000           | 010000             |
+------------------+--------------------+

By default, CHAR() returns a binary string. To produce a string in a given character set, use the optional USING clause:

mysql> SELECT CHARSET(CHAR(0x65)), CHARSET(CHAR(0x65 USING utf8));
+---------------------+--------------------------------+
| CHARSET(CHAR(0x65)) | CHARSET(CHAR(0x65 USING utf8)) |
+---------------------+--------------------------------+
| binary              | utf8                           |
+---------------------+--------------------------------+

If USING is given and the result string is illegal for the given character set, a warning is issued. Also, if strict SQL mode is enabled, the result from CHAR() becomes NULL.

CHAR_LENGTH(str)

Returns the length of the string str, measured in characters. A multibyte character counts as a single character. This means that for a string containing five 2-byte characters, LENGTH() returns 10, whereas CHAR_LENGTH() returns 5.

CHARACTER_LENGTH(str)

CHARACTER_LENGTH() is a synonym for CHAR_LENGTH().

CONCAT(str1,str2,...)

Returns the string that results from concatenating the arguments. May have one or more arguments. If all arguments are nonbinary strings, the result is a nonbinary string. If the arguments include any binary strings, the result is a binary string. A numeric argument is converted to its equivalent nonbinary string form.

CONCAT() returns NULL if any argument is NULL.

mysql> SELECT CONCAT('My', 'S', 'QL');
        -> 'MySQL'
mysql> SELECT CONCAT('My', NULL, 'QL');
        -> NULL
mysql> SELECT CONCAT(14.3);
        -> '14.3'

For quoted strings, concatenation can be performed by placing the strings next to each other:

mysql> SELECT 'My' 'S' 'QL';
        -> 'MySQL'

CONCAT_WS(separator,str1,str2,...)

CONCAT_WS() stands for Concatenate With Separator and is a special form of CONCAT(). The first argument is the separator for the rest of the arguments. The separator is added between the strings to be concatenated. The separator can be a string, as can the rest of the arguments. If the separator is NULL, the result is NULL.

mysql> SELECT CONCAT_WS(',','First name','Second name','Last Name');
        -> 'First name,Second name,Last Name'
mysql> SELECT CONCAT_WS(',','First name',NULL,'Last Name');
        -> 'First name,Last Name'

CONCAT_WS() does not skip empty strings. However, it does skip any NULL values after the separator argument.

ELT(N,str1,str2,str3,...)

ELT() returns the Nth element of the list of strings: str1 if N = 1, str2 if N = 2, and so on. Returns NULL if N is less than 1 or greater than the number of arguments. ELT() is the complement of FIELD().

mysql> SELECT ELT(1, 'ej', 'Heja', 'hej', 'foo');
        -> 'ej'
mysql> SELECT ELT(4, 'ej', 'Heja', 'hej', 'foo');
        -> 'foo'

EXPORT_SET(bits,on,off[,separator[,number_of_bits]])

Returns a string such that for every bit set in the value bits, you get an on string and for every bit not set in the value, you get an off string. Bits in bits are examined from right to left (from low-order to high-order bits). Strings are added to the result from left to right, separated by the separator string (the default being the comma character “,”). The number of bits examined is given by number_of_bits, which has a default of 64 if not specified. number_of_bits is silently clipped to 64 if larger than 64. It is treated as an unsigned integer, so a value of −1 is effectively the same as 64.

mysql> SELECT EXPORT_SET(5,'Y','N',',',4);
        -> 'Y,N,Y,N'
mysql> SELECT EXPORT_SET(6,'1','0',',',10);
        -> '0,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0'

FIELD(str,str1,str2,str3,...)

Returns the index (position) of str in the str1, str2, str3, ... list. Returns 0 if str is not found.

If all arguments to FIELD() are strings, all arguments are compared as strings. If all arguments are numbers, they are compared as numbers. Otherwise, the arguments are compared as double.

If str is NULL, the return value is 0 because NULL fails equality comparison with any value. FIELD() is the complement of ELT().

mysql> SELECT FIELD('ej', 'Hej', 'ej', 'Heja', 'hej', 'foo');
        -> 2
mysql> SELECT FIELD('fo', 'Hej', 'ej', 'Heja', 'hej', 'foo');
        -> 0

FIND_IN_SET(str,strlist)

Returns a value in the range of 1 to N if the string str is in the string list strlist consisting of N substrings. A string list is a string composed of substrings separated by “,” characters. If the first argument is a constant string and the second is a column of type SET, the FIND_IN_SET() function is optimized to use bit arithmetic. Returns 0 if str is not in strlist or if strlist is the empty string. Returns NULL if either argument is NULL. This function does not work properly if the first argument contains a comma (“,”) character.

mysql> SELECT FIND_IN_SET('b','a,b,c,d');
        -> 2

FORMAT(X,D[,locale])

Formats the number X to a format like '#,###,###.##', rounded to D decimal places, and returns the result as a string. If D is 0, the result has no decimal point or fractional part.

The optional third parameter enables a locale to be specified to be used for the result number's decimal point, thousands separator, and grouping between separators. Permissible locale values are the same as the legal values for the lc_time_names system variable (see Section 10.7, “MySQL Server Locale Support”). If no locale is specified, the default is 'en_US'.

mysql> SELECT FORMAT(12332.123456, 4);
        -> '12,332.1235'
mysql> SELECT FORMAT(12332.1,4);
        -> '12,332.1000'
mysql> SELECT FORMAT(12332.2,0);
        -> '12,332'
mysql> SELECT FORMAT(12332.2,2,'de_DE');
        -> '12.332,20'

FROM_BASE64(str)

Takes a string encoded with the base-64 encoded rules used by TO_BASE64() and returns the decoded result as a binary string. The result is NULL if the argument is NULL or not a valid base-64 string. See the description of TO_BASE64() for details about the encoding and decoding rules.

This function was added in MySQL 5.6.1.

mysql> SELECT TO_BASE64('abc'), FROM_BASE64(TO_BASE64('abc'));
        -> 'JWJj', 'abc'

HEX(str), HEX(N)

For a string argument str, HEX() returns a hexadecimal string representation of str where each byte of each character in str is converted to two hexadecimal digits. (Multibyte characters therefore become more than two digits.) The inverse of this operation is performed by the UNHEX() function.

For a numeric argument N, HEX() returns a hexadecimal string representation of the value of N treated as a longlong (BIGINT) number. This is equivalent to CONV(N,10,16). The inverse of this operation is performed by CONV(HEX(N),16,10).

mysql> SELECT 0x616263, HEX('abc'), UNHEX(HEX('abc'));
        -> 'abc', 616263, 'abc'
mysql> SELECT HEX(255), CONV(HEX(255),16,10);
        -> 'FF', 255

INSERT(str,pos,len,newstr)

Returns the string str, with the substring beginning at position pos and len characters long replaced by the string newstr. Returns the original string if pos is not within the length of the string. Replaces the rest of the string from position pos if len is not within the length of the rest of the string. Returns NULL if any argument is NULL.

mysql> SELECT INSERT('Quadratic', 3, 4, 'What');
        -> 'QuWhattic'
mysql> SELECT INSERT('Quadratic', -1, 4, 'What');
        -> 'Quadratic'
mysql> SELECT INSERT('Quadratic', 3, 100, 'What');
        -> 'QuWhat'

This function is multibyte safe.

INSTR(str,substr)

Returns the position of the first occurrence of substring substr in string str. This is the same as the two-argument form of LOCATE(), except that the order of the arguments is reversed.

mysql> SELECT INSTR('foobarbar', 'bar');
        -> 4
mysql> SELECT INSTR('xbar', 'foobar');
        -> 0

This function is multibyte safe, and is case sensitive only if at least one argument is a binary string.

LCASE(str)

LCASE() is a synonym for LOWER().

LEFT(str,len)

Returns the leftmost len characters from the string str, or NULL if any argument is NULL.

mysql> SELECT LEFT('foobarbar', 5);
        -> 'fooba'

This function is multibyte safe.

LENGTH(str)

Returns the length of the string str, measured in bytes. A multibyte character counts as multiple bytes. This means that for a string containing five 2-byte characters, LENGTH() returns 10, whereas CHAR_LENGTH() returns 5.

mysql> SELECT LENGTH('text');
        -> 4

LOAD_FILE(file_name)

Reads the file and returns the file contents as a string. To use this function, the file must be located on the server host, you must specify the full path name to the file, and you must have the FILE privilege. The file must be readable by all and its size less than max_allowed_packet bytes. If the secure_file_priv system variable is set to a nonempty directory name, the file to be loaded must be located in that directory.

If the file does not exist or cannot be read because one of the preceding conditions is not satisfied, the function returns NULL.

The character_set_filesystem system variable controls interpretation of file names that are given as literal strings.

mysql> UPDATE t
            SET blob_col=LOAD_FILE('/tmp/picture')
            WHERE id=1;

LOCATE(substr,str), LOCATE(substr,str,pos)

The first syntax returns the position of the first occurrence of substring substr in string str. The second syntax returns the position of the first occurrence of substring substr in string str, starting at position pos. Returns 0 if substr is not in str.

mysql> SELECT LOCATE('bar', 'foobarbar');
        -> 4
mysql> SELECT LOCATE('xbar', 'foobar');
        -> 0
mysql> SELECT LOCATE('bar', 'foobarbar', 5);
        -> 7

This function is multibyte safe, and is case-sensitive only if at least one argument is a binary string.

LOWER(str)

Returns the string str with all characters changed to lowercase according to the current character set mapping. The default is latin1 (cp1252 West European).

mysql> SELECT LOWER('QUADRATICALLY');
        -> 'quadratically'

LOWER() (and UPPER()) are ineffective when applied to binary strings (BINARY, VARBINARY, BLOB). To perform lettercase conversion, convert the string to a nonbinary string:

mysql> SET @str = BINARY 'New York';
mysql> SELECT LOWER(@str), LOWER(CONVERT(@str USING latin1));
+-------------+-----------------------------------+
| LOWER(@str) | LOWER(CONVERT(@str USING latin1)) |
+-------------+-----------------------------------+
| New York    | new york                          |
+-------------+-----------------------------------+

For Unicode character sets, LOWER() and UPPER() work accounting to Unicode Collation Algorithm (UCA) 5.2.0 for xxx_unicode_520_ci collations and for language-specific collations that are derived from them. For other Unicode collations, LOWER() and UPPER() work accounting to Unicode Collation Algorithm (UCA) 4.0.0. See Section 10.1.14.1, “Unicode Character Sets”.

This function is multibyte safe.

LPAD(str,len,padstr)

Returns the string str, left-padded with the string padstr to a length of len characters. If str is longer than len, the return value is shortened to len characters.

mysql> SELECT LPAD('hi',4,'??');
        -> '??hi'
mysql> SELECT LPAD('hi',1,'??');
        -> 'h'

LTRIM(str)

Returns the string str with leading space characters removed.

mysql> SELECT LTRIM('  barbar');
        -> 'barbar'

This function is multibyte safe.

MAKE_SET(bits,str1,str2,...)

Returns a set value (a string containing substrings separated by “,” characters) consisting of the strings that have the corresponding bit in bits set. str1 corresponds to bit 0, str2 to bit 1, and so on. NULL values in str1, str2, ... are not appended to the result.

mysql> SELECT MAKE_SET(1,'a','b','c');
        -> 'a'
mysql> SELECT MAKE_SET(1 | 4,'hello','nice','world');
        -> 'hello,world'
mysql> SELECT MAKE_SET(1 | 4,'hello','nice',NULL,'world');
        -> 'hello'
mysql> SELECT MAKE_SET(0,'a','b','c');
        -> ''

MID(str,pos,len)

MID(str,pos,len) is a synonym for SUBSTRING(str,pos,len).

OCT(N)

Returns a string representation of the octal value of N, where N is a longlong (BIGINT) number. This is equivalent to CONV(N,10,8). Returns NULL if N is NULL.

mysql> SELECT OCT(12);
        -> '14'

OCTET_LENGTH(str)

OCTET_LENGTH() is a synonym for LENGTH().

ORD(str)

If the leftmost character of the string str is a multibyte character, returns the code for that character, calculated from the numeric values of its constituent bytes using this formula:

  (1st byte code)
+ (2nd byte code * 256)
+ (3rd byte code * 2562) ...

If the leftmost character is not a multibyte character, ORD() returns the same value as the ASCII() function.

mysql> SELECT ORD('2');
        -> 50

POSITION(substr IN str)

POSITION(substr IN str) is a synonym for LOCATE(substr,str).

QUOTE(str)

Quotes a string to produce a result that can be used as a properly escaped data value in an SQL statement. The string is returned enclosed by single quotation marks and with each instance of backslash (“\”), single quote (“'”), ASCII NUL, and Control+Z preceded by a backslash. If the argument is NULL, the return value is the word “NULL” without enclosing single quotation marks.

mysql> SELECT QUOTE('Don\'t!');
        -> 'Don\'t!'
mysql> SELECT QUOTE(NULL);
        -> NULL

For comparison, see the quoting rules for literal strings and within the C API in Section 9.1.1, “String Literals”, and Section 23.8.7.54, “mysql_real_escape_string()”.

REPEAT(str,count)

Returns a string consisting of the string str repeated count times. If count is less than 1, returns an empty string. Returns NULL if str or count are NULL.

mysql> SELECT REPEAT('MySQL', 3);
        -> 'MySQLMySQLMySQL'

REPLACE(str,from_str,to_str)

Returns the string str with all occurrences of the string from_str replaced by the string to_str. REPLACE() performs a case-sensitive match when searching for from_str.

mysql> SELECT REPLACE('www.mysql.com', 'w', 'Ww');
        -> 'WwWwWw.mysql.com'

This function is multibyte safe.

REVERSE(str)

Returns the string str with the order of the characters reversed.

mysql> SELECT REVERSE('abc');
        -> 'cba'

This function is multibyte safe.

RIGHT(str,len)

Returns the rightmost len characters from the string str, or NULL if any argument is NULL.

mysql> SELECT RIGHT('foobarbar', 4);
        -> 'rbar'

This function is multibyte safe.

RPAD(str,len,padstr)

Returns the string str, right-padded with the string padstr to a length of len characters. If str is longer than len, the return value is shortened to len characters.

mysql> SELECT RPAD('hi',5,'?');
        -> 'hi???'
mysql> SELECT RPAD('hi',1,'?');
        -> 'h'

This function is multibyte safe.

RTRIM(str)

Returns the string str with trailing space characters removed.

mysql> SELECT RTRIM('barbar   ');
        -> 'barbar'

This function is multibyte safe.

SOUNDEX(str)

Returns a soundex string from str. Two strings that sound almost the same should have identical soundex strings. A standard soundex string is four characters long, but the SOUNDEX() function returns an arbitrarily long string. You can use SUBSTRING() on the result to get a standard soundex string. All nonalphabetic characters in str are ignored. All international alphabetic characters outside the A-Z range are treated as vowels.

mysql> SELECT SOUNDEX('Hello');
        -> 'H400'
mysql> SELECT SOUNDEX('Quadratically');
        -> 'Q36324'

expr1 SOUNDS LIKE expr2

This is the same as SOUNDEX(expr1) = SOUNDEX(expr2).

SPACE(N)

Returns a string consisting of N space characters.

mysql> SELECT SPACE(6);
        -> '      '

SUBSTR(str,pos), SUBSTR(str FROM pos), SUBSTR(str,pos,len), SUBSTR(str FROM pos FOR len)

SUBSTR() is a synonym for SUBSTRING().

SUBSTRING(str,pos), SUBSTRING(str FROM pos), SUBSTRING(str,pos,len), SUBSTRING(str FROM pos FOR len)

The forms without a len argument return a substring from string str starting at position pos. The forms with a len argument return a substring len characters long from string str, starting at position pos. The forms that use FROM are standard SQL syntax. It is also possible to use a negative value for pos. In this case, the beginning of the substring is pos characters from the end of the string, rather than the beginning. A negative value may be used for pos in any of the forms of this function.

For all forms of SUBSTRING(), the position of the first character in the string from which the substring is to be extracted is reckoned as 1.

mysql> SELECT SUBSTRING('Quadratically',5);
        -> 'ratically'
mysql> SELECT SUBSTRING('foobarbar' FROM 4);
        -> 'barbar'
mysql> SELECT SUBSTRING('Quadratically',5,6);
        -> 'ratica'
mysql> SELECT SUBSTRING('Sakila', -3);
        -> 'ila'
mysql> SELECT SUBSTRING('Sakila', -5, 3);
        -> 'aki'
mysql> SELECT SUBSTRING('Sakila' FROM -4 FOR 2);
        -> 'ki'

This function is multibyte safe.

If len is less than 1, the result is the empty string.

SUBSTRING_INDEX(str,delim,count)

Returns the substring from string str before count occurrences of the delimiter delim. If count is positive, everything to the left of the final delimiter (counting from the left) is returned. If count is negative, everything to the right of the final delimiter (counting from the right) is returned. SUBSTRING_INDEX() performs a case-sensitive match when searching for delim.

mysql> SELECT SUBSTRING_INDEX('www.mysql.com', '.', 2);
        -> 'www.mysql'
mysql> SELECT SUBSTRING_INDEX('www.mysql.com', '.', -2);
        -> 'mysql.com'

This function is multibyte safe.

TO_BASE64(str)

Converts the string argument to base-64 encoded form and returns the result as a character string with the connection character set and collation. If the argument is not a string, it is converted to a string before conversion takes place. The result is NULL if the argument is NULL. Base-64 encoded strings can be decoded using the FROM_BASE64() function.

This function was added in MySQL 5.6.1.

mysql> SELECT TO_BASE64('abc'), FROM_BASE64(TO_BASE64('abc'));
        -> 'JWJj', 'abc'

Different base-64 encoding schemes exist. These are the encoding and decoding rules used by TO_BASE64() and FROM_BASE64():

TRIM([{BOTH | LEADING | TRAILING} [remstr] FROM] str), TRIM([remstr FROM] str)

Returns the string str with all remstr prefixes or suffixes removed. If none of the specifiers BOTH, LEADING, or TRAILING is given, BOTH is assumed. remstr is optional and, if not specified, spaces are removed.

mysql> SELECT TRIM('  bar   ');
        -> 'bar'
mysql> SELECT TRIM(LEADING 'x' FROM 'xxxbarxxx');
        -> 'barxxx'
mysql> SELECT TRIM(BOTH 'x' FROM 'xxxbarxxx');
        -> 'bar'
mysql> SELECT TRIM(TRAILING 'xyz' FROM 'barxxyz');
        -> 'barx'

This function is multibyte safe.

UCASE(str)

UCASE() is a synonym for UPPER().

UNHEX(str)

For a string argument str, UNHEX(str) interprets each pair of characters in the argument as a hexadecimal number and converts it to the byte represented by the number. The return value is a binary string.

mysql> SELECT UNHEX('4D7953514C');
        -> 'MySQL'
mysql> SELECT 0x4D7953514C;
        -> 'MySQL'
mysql> SELECT UNHEX(HEX('string'));
        -> 'string'
mysql> SELECT HEX(UNHEX('1267'));
        -> '1267'

The characters in the argument string must be legal hexadecimal digits: '0' .. '9', 'A' .. 'F', 'a' .. 'f'. If the argument contains any nonhexadecimal digits, the result is NULL:

mysql> SELECT UNHEX('GG');
+-------------+
| UNHEX('GG') |
+-------------+
| NULL        |
+-------------+

A NULL result can occur if the argument to UNHEX() is a BINARY column, because values are padded with 0x00 bytes when stored but those bytes are not stripped on retrieval. For example, '41' is stored into a CHAR(3) column as '41 ' and retrieved as '41' (with the trailing pad space stripped), so UNHEX() for the column value returns 'A'. By contrast '41' is stored into a BINARY(3) column as '41\0' and retrieved as '41\0' (with the trailing pad 0x00 byte not stripped). '\0' is not a legal hexadecimal digit, so UNHEX() for the column value returns NULL.

For a numeric argument N, the inverse of HEX(N) is not performed by UNHEX(). Use CONV(HEX(N),16,10) instead. See the description of HEX().

UPPER(str)

Returns the string str with all characters changed to uppercase according to the current character set mapping. The default is latin1 (cp1252 West European).

mysql> SELECT UPPER('Hej');
        -> 'HEJ'

See the description of LOWER() for information that also applies to UPPER(). This included information about how to perform lettercase conversion of binary strings (BINARY, VARBINARY, BLOB) for which these functions are ineffective, and information about case folding for Unicode character sets.

This function is multibyte safe.

WEIGHT_STRING(str [AS {CHAR|BINARY}(N)] [LEVEL levels] [flags])

levels: N [ASC|DESC|REVERSE] [, N [ASC|DESC|REVERSE]] ...

This function returns the weight string for the input string. The return value is a binary string that represents the sorting and comparison value of the string. It has these properties:

WEIGHT_STRING() can be used for testing and debugging of collations, especially if you are adding a new collation. See Section 10.4, “Adding a Collation to a Character Set”.

The input string, str, is a string expression. If the input is a nonbinary (character) string such as a CHAR, VARCHAR, or TEXT value, the return value contains the collation weights for the string. If the input is a binary (byte) string such as a BINARY, VARBINARY, or BLOB value, the return value is the same as the input (the weight for each byte in a binary string is the byte value). If the input is NULL, WEIGHT_STRING() returns NULL.

Examples:

mysql> SET @s = _latin1 'AB' COLLATE latin1_swedish_ci;
mysql> SELECT @s, HEX(@s), HEX(WEIGHT_STRING(@s));
+------+---------+------------------------+
| @s   | HEX(@s) | HEX(WEIGHT_STRING(@s)) |
+------+---------+------------------------+
| AB   | 4142    | 4142                   |
+------+---------+------------------------+

mysql> SET @s = _latin1 'ab' COLLATE latin1_swedish_ci;
mysql> SELECT @s, HEX(@s), HEX(WEIGHT_STRING(@s));
+------+---------+------------------------+
| @s   | HEX(@s) | HEX(WEIGHT_STRING(@s)) |
+------+---------+------------------------+
| ab   | 6162    | 4142                   |
+------+---------+------------------------+

mysql> SET @s = CAST('AB' AS BINARY);
mysql> SELECT @s, HEX(@s), HEX(WEIGHT_STRING(@s));
+------+---------+------------------------+
| @s   | HEX(@s) | HEX(WEIGHT_STRING(@s)) |
+------+---------+------------------------+
| AB   | 4142    | 4142                   |
+------+---------+------------------------+

mysql> SET @s = CAST('ab' AS BINARY);
mysql> SELECT @s, HEX(@s), HEX(WEIGHT_STRING(@s));
+------+---------+------------------------+
| @s   | HEX(@s) | HEX(WEIGHT_STRING(@s)) |
+------+---------+------------------------+
| ab   | 6162    | 6162                   |
+------+---------+------------------------+

The preceding examples use HEX() to display the WEIGHT_STRING() result. Because the result is a binary value, HEX() can be especially useful when the result contains nonprinting values, to display it in printable form:

mysql> SET @s = CONVERT(0xC39F USING utf8) COLLATE utf8_czech_ci;
mysql> SELECT HEX(WEIGHT_STRING(@s));
+------------------------+
| HEX(WEIGHT_STRING(@s)) |
+------------------------+
| 0FEA0FEA               |
+------------------------+

For non-NULL return values, the data type of the value is VARBINARY if its length is within the maximum length for VARBINARY, otherwise the data type is BLOB.

The AS clause may be given to cast the input string to a nonbinary or binary string and to force it to a given length:

mysql> SELECT HEX(WEIGHT_STRING('ab' AS CHAR(4)));
+-------------------------------------+
| HEX(WEIGHT_STRING('ab' AS CHAR(4))) |
+-------------------------------------+
| 41422020                            |
+-------------------------------------+

mysql> SELECT HEX(WEIGHT_STRING('ab' AS BINARY(4)));
+---------------------------------------+
| HEX(WEIGHT_STRING('ab' AS BINARY(4))) |
+---------------------------------------+
| 61620000                              |
+---------------------------------------+

The LEVEL clause may be given to specify that the return value should contain weights for specific collation levels.

The levels specifier following the LEVEL keyword may be given either as a list of one or more integers separated by commas, or as a range of two integers separated by a dash. Whitespace around the punctuation characters does not matter.

Examples:

LEVEL 1
LEVEL 2, 3, 5
LEVEL 1-3

Any level less than 1 is treated as 1. Any level greater than the maximum for the input string collation is treated as maximum for the collation. The maximum varies per collation, but is never greater than 6.

In a list of levels, levels must be given in increasing order. In a range of levels, if the second number is less than the first, it is treated as the first number (for example, 4-2 is the same as 4-4).

If the LEVEL clause is omitted, MySQL assumes LEVEL 1 - max, where max is the maximum level for the collation.

If LEVEL is specified using list syntax (not range syntax), any level number can be followed by these modifiers:

Examples:

mysql> SELECT HEX(WEIGHT_STRING(0x007fff LEVEL 1));
+--------------------------------------+
| HEX(WEIGHT_STRING(0x007fff LEVEL 1)) |
+--------------------------------------+
| 007FFF                               |
+--------------------------------------+

mysql> SELECT HEX(WEIGHT_STRING(0x007fff LEVEL 1 DESC));
+-------------------------------------------+
| HEX(WEIGHT_STRING(0x007fff LEVEL 1 DESC)) |
+-------------------------------------------+
| FF8000                                    |
+-------------------------------------------+

mysql> SELECT HEX(WEIGHT_STRING(0x007fff LEVEL 1 REVERSE));
+----------------------------------------------+
| HEX(WEIGHT_STRING(0x007fff LEVEL 1 REVERSE)) |
+----------------------------------------------+
| FF7F00                                       |
+----------------------------------------------+

mysql> SELECT HEX(WEIGHT_STRING(0x007fff LEVEL 1 DESC REVERSE));
+---------------------------------------------------+
| HEX(WEIGHT_STRING(0x007fff LEVEL 1 DESC REVERSE)) |
+---------------------------------------------------+
| 0080FF                                            |
+---------------------------------------------------+

The flags clause currently is unused.