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).
The sample results shown on this page assume that the server parameter bytea_output is set to escape (the traditional PostgreSQL format).
| Function | Return Type | Description | Example | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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.
| Function | Return Type | Description | Example | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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.
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
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)
8ab2d3c9689aaf18b4958c334c82d8b1
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')
\x23097d223405d8228642a477bda255b32aadbce4bda0b3f7e36c9da7
sha256(bytea)
bytea
SHA-256 hash
sha256('abc')
\xba7816bf8f01cfea414140de5dae2223b00361a396177a9cb410ff61f20015ad
sha384(bytea)
bytea
SHA-384 hash
sha384('abc')
\xcb00753f45a35e8bb5a03d699ac65007272c32ab0eded1631a8b605a43ff5bed8086072ba1e7cc2358baeca134c825a7
sha512(bytea)
bytea
SHA-512 hash
sha512('abc')
\xddaf35a193617abacc417349ae20413112e6fa4e89a97ea20a9eeee64b55d39a2192992a274fc1a836ba3c23a3feebbd454d4423643ce80e2a9ac94fa54ca49f