SQL Length Of String

Galaxy Glossary

How do I find the length of a string in SQL?

SQL provides functions to determine the length of character strings. These functions are crucial for data validation and manipulation, ensuring data integrity and consistency.

Sign up for the latest in SQL knowledge from the Galaxy Team!
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Description

Determining the length of a string is a fundamental task in SQL. Knowing the length of a string allows you to perform various operations, such as validating input, ensuring data consistency, and optimizing queries. Different SQL dialects offer slightly varying functions for this purpose. For instance, MySQL uses `LENGTH()`, PostgreSQL and SQL Server use `LEN()`, and Oracle uses `LENGTH()`. Understanding these nuances is important for portability across different database systems. The length function is often used in conjunction with other string functions or in WHERE clauses to filter data based on string length. For example, you might want to find all customer names shorter than 10 characters. This is a common task in data cleaning and analysis.

Why SQL Length Of String is important

Knowing the length of strings is crucial for data validation and manipulation. It helps ensure data integrity, prevents errors, and enables efficient querying and filtering of data.

SQL Length Of String Example Usage


-- Example demonstrating ISNUMERIC
SELECT
    '123' AS Input,
    ISNUMERIC('123') AS IsNumeric,
    '123.45' AS Input2,
    ISNUMERIC('123.45') AS IsNumeric2,
    'abc' AS Input3,
    ISNUMERIC('abc') AS IsNumeric3,
    '+123' AS Input4,
    ISNUMERIC('+123') AS IsNumeric4,
    '1e2' AS Input5,
    ISNUMERIC('1e2') AS IsNumeric5,
    '123.45abc' AS Input6,
    ISNUMERIC('123.45abc') AS IsNumeric6;

Common Mistakes

Want to learn about other SQL terms?

With Cte In SQL

Common Table Expressions (CTEs) are temporary, named result sets defined within a single SQL statement. They enhance query readability and reusability by breaking down complex queries into smaller, manageable parts.

Where Vs Having SQL

WHERE and HAVING are both used for filtering data in SQL, but they operate on different levels. WHERE filters rows before any aggregation, while HAVING filters groups after aggregation.

Windows Functions In SQL

Window functions in SQL perform calculations over a set of rows related to the current row, unlike aggregate functions which summarize data across all rows. They are powerful tools for analyzing data within a specific context.

Company
BlogFeaturesPricingAboutCareersFeature Requests
Resources
DocsSupportSecurityBrand Kit
Explore
Product TourData Job BoardRecruitersConsultantsStartup ToolsMemes
Learn
Learn SQLBeginner ResourcesData ToolsSQL Interview PrepCommon ErrorsSQL OptimizationSQL In Other LanguagesGlossary
Comparisons
DatagripTablePlusDBeaverBeekeeper StudiopgAdminPosticoCursor
HexBrieferPopSQLSherloqBlazeSQLSweep AIWaii AIOuterbase
© 2025 Galaxy Software Inc.
hello@getgalaxy.io
Reddit IconProduct Hunt IconTwitter / X IconLinkedIn Icon