9.5. 位元字串函式及運算子

This section describes functions and operators for examining and manipulating values of type bytea.

SQL defines some string functions that use key words, rather than commas, to separate arguments. Details are in Table 9.12. PostgreSQL also provides versions of these functions that use the regular function invocation syntax (see Table 9.13).

Note

The sample results shown on this page assume that the server parameter bytea_output is set to escape (the traditional PostgreSQL format).

Table 9.12. SQL Binary String Functions and Operators

Function	Return Type	Description	Example	Result
string || string	bytea	String concatenation	'\\Post'::bytea || '\047gres\000'::bytea	\\Post'gres\000
octet_length(string)	int	Number of bytes in binary string	octet_length('jo\000se'::bytea)	5
overlay(string placing string from int [for int])	bytea	Replace substring	overlay('Th\000omas'::bytea placing '\002\003'::bytea from 2 for 3)	T\\002\\003mas
position(substring in string)	int	Location of specified substring	position('\000om'::bytea in 'Th\000omas'::bytea)	3
substring(string [from int] [for int])	bytea	Extract substring	substring('Th\000omas'::bytea from 2 for 3)	h\000o
trim([both] bytes from string)	bytea	Remove the longest string containing only bytes appearing in bytes from the start and end of string	trim('\000\001'::bytea from '\000Tom\001'::bytea)	Tom

Additional binary string manipulation functions are available and are listed in Table 9.13. Some of them are used internally to implement the SQL-standard string functions listed in Table 9.12.

Table 9.13. Other Binary String Functions

Function	Return Type	Description	Example	Result
btrim(string bytea, bytes bytea)	bytea	Remove the longest string containing only bytes appearing in bytes from the start and end of string	btrim('\000trim\001'::bytea, '\000\001'::bytea)	trim
decode(string text, format text)	bytea	Decode binary data from textual representation in string. Options for format are same as in encode.	decode('123\000456', 'escape')	123\000456
encode(data bytea, format text)	text	Encode binary data into a textual representation. Supported formats are: base64, hex, escape. escape converts zero bytes and high-bit-set bytes to octal sequences (\nnn) and doubles backslashes.	encode('123\000456'::bytea, 'escape')	123\000456
get_bit(string, offset)	int	Extract bit from string	get_bit('Th\000omas'::bytea, 45)	1
get_byte(string, offset)	int	Extract byte from string	get_byte('Th\000omas'::bytea, 4)	109
length(string)	int	Length of binary string	length('jo\000se'::bytea)	5
md5(string)	text	Calculates the MD5 hash of string, returning the result in hexadecimal	md5('Th\000omas'::bytea)	8ab2d3c9689aaf18​b4958c334c82d8b1
set_bit(string, offset, newvalue)	bytea	Set bit in string	set_bit('Th\000omas'::bytea, 45, 0)	Th\000omAs
set_byte(string, offset, newvalue)	bytea	Set byte in string	set_byte('Th\000omas'::bytea, 4, 64)	Th\000o@as
sha224(bytea)	bytea	SHA-224 hash	sha224('abc')	\x23097d223405d8228642a477bda2​55b32aadbce4bda0b3f7e36c9da7
sha256(bytea)	bytea	SHA-256 hash	sha256('abc')	\xba7816bf8f01cfea414140de5dae2223​b00361a396177a9cb410ff61f20015ad
sha384(bytea)	bytea	SHA-384 hash	sha384('abc')	\xcb00753f45a35e8bb5a03d699ac65007​272c32ab0eded1631a8b605a43ff5bed​8086072ba1e7cc2358baeca134c825a7
sha512(bytea)	bytea	SHA-512 hash	sha512('abc')	\xddaf35a193617abacc417349ae204131​12e6fa4e89a97ea20a9eeee64b55d39a​2192992a274fc1a836ba3c23a3feebbd​454d4423643ce80e2a9ac94fa54ca49f

get_byte and set_byte number the first byte of a binary string as byte 0. get_bit and set_bit number bits from the right within each byte; for example bit 0 is the least significant bit of the first byte, and bit 15 is the most significant bit of the second byte.

Note that for historic reasons, the function md5 returns a hex-encoded value of type text whereas the SHA-2 functions return type bytea. Use the functions encode and decode to convert between the two, for example encode(sha256('abc'), 'hex') to get a hex-encoded text representation.

See also the aggregate function string_agg in Section 9.20 and the large object functions in Section 34.4.