Length functions

Use length functions to determine the length of a character column, string, or variable, or of the value returned by a character expression, or (for CHAR_LENGTH in multibyte locales) the number of logical characters.


Length Functions

    (1)                             
|--------+-+-LENGTH-+-----------+------------------------------->
         | '-LEN----'           |   
         +-+-CHAR_LENGTH------+-+   
         | '-CHARACTER_LENGTH-' |   
         '-OCTET_LENGTH---------'   

                          (2)            
>--(--+-| Quoted String |---------+--)--------------------------|
      |  (3)   (4)                |      
      +-------------variable_name-+      
      '-+--------+--column--------'      
        '-table.-'

Notes:

Informix® extension
See Quoted String
ESQL/C
SPL Language

Element	Description	Restrictions	Syntax
column	Name of a column in table	Must have a character data type	Identifier
table	Name of the table in which the specified column occurs	Must exist	Identifier
variable	Host variable or SPL variable that contains a character string	Must have a character data type	See language-specific rules for names.

Each of these functions has a distinct purpose:

LENGTH (also known as LEN)
OCTET_LENGTH
CHAR_LENGTH (also known as CHARACTER_LENGTH)