9.4. String Functions and Operators
| Up | Chapter 9. Functions and Operators | Home |

## 9.4. String Functions and Operators #

This section describes functions and operators for examining and manipulating string values. Strings in this context include values of the types character, character varying, and text. Except where noted, these functions and operators are declared to accept and return type text. They will interchangeably accept character varying arguments. Values of type character will be converted to text before the function or operator is applied, resulting in stripping any trailing spaces in the character value.

SQL defines some string functions that use key words, rather than commas, to separate arguments. Details are in Table 9.9. PostgreSQL™ also provides versions of these functions that use the regular function invocation syntax (see Table 9.10).

### Note

The string concatenation operator (`||`) will accept non-string input, so long as at least one input is of string type, as shown in Table 9.9. For other cases, inserting an explicit coercion to text can be used to have non-string input accepted.

Table 9.9. SQL String Functions and Operators

Function/Operator Description Example(s)
text `||` text text Concatenates the two strings. `'Post' || 'greSQL'` PostgreSQL
text `||` anynonarray text anynonarray `||` text text Converts the non-string input to text, then concatenates the two strings. (The non-string input cannot be of an array type, because that would create ambiguity with the array `||` operators. If you want to concatenate an array's text equivalent, cast it to text explicitly.) `'Value: ' || 42` Value: 42
`btrim` ( `string` text [, `characters` text ] ) text Removes the longest string containing only characters in `characters` (a space by default) from the start and end of `string`. `btrim('xyxtrimyyx', 'xyz')` trim
text `IS` [`NOT`] [`form`] `NORMALIZED` boolean Checks whether the string is in the specified Unicode normalization form. The optional `form` key word specifies the form: `NFC` (the default), `NFD`, `NFKC`, or `NFKD`. This expression can only be used when the server encoding is `UTF8`. Note that checking for normalization using this expression is often faster than normalizing possibly already normalized strings. `U&'\0061\0308bc' IS NFD NORMALIZED` t
`bit_length` ( text ) integer Returns number of bits in the string (8 times the `octet_length`). `bit_length('jose')` 32
`char_length` ( text ) integer `character_length` ( text ) integer Returns number of characters in the string. `char_length('josé')` 4
`lower` ( text ) text Converts the string to all lower case, according to the rules of the database's locale. `lower('TOM')` tom
`lpad` ( `string` text, `length` integer [, `fill` text ] ) text Extends the `string` to length `length` by prepending the characters `fill` (a space by default). If the `string` is already longer than `length` then it is truncated (on the right). `lpad('hi', 5, 'xy')` xyxhi
`ltrim` ( `string` text [, `characters` text ] ) text Removes the longest string containing only characters in `characters` (a space by default) from the start of `string`. `ltrim('zzzytest', 'xyz')` test
`normalize` ( text [, `form` ] ) text Converts the string to the specified Unicode normalization form. The optional `form` key word specifies the form: `NFC` (the default), `NFD`, `NFKC`, or `NFKD`. This function can only be used when the server encoding is `UTF8`. `normalize(U&'\0061\0308bc', NFC)` U&'\00E4bc'
`octet_length` ( text ) integer Returns number of bytes in the string. `octet_length('josé')` 5 (if server encoding is UTF8)
`octet_length` ( character ) integer Returns number of bytes in the string. Since this version of the function accepts type character directly, it will not strip trailing spaces. `octet_length('abc '::character(4))` 4
`overlay` ( `string` text `PLACING` `newsubstring` text `FROM` `start` integer [ `FOR` `count` integer ] ) text Replaces the substring of `string` that starts at the `start`'th character and extends for `count` characters with `newsubstring`. If `count` is omitted, it defaults to the length of `newsubstring`. `overlay('Txxxxas' placing 'hom' from 2 for 4)` Thomas
`position` ( `substring` text `IN` `string` text ) integer Returns first starting index of the specified `substring` within `string`, or zero if it's not present. `position('om' in 'Thomas')` 3
`rpad` ( `string` text, `length` integer [, `fill` text ] ) text Extends the `string` to length `length` by appending the characters `fill` (a space by default). If the `string` is already longer than `length` then it is truncated. `rpad('hi', 5, 'xy')` hixyx
`rtrim` ( `string` text [, `characters` text ] ) text Removes the longest string containing only characters in `characters` (a space by default) from the end of `string`. `rtrim('testxxzx', 'xyz')` test
`substring` ( `string` text [ `FROM` `start` integer ] [ `FOR` `count` integer ] ) text Extracts the substring of `string` starting at the `start`'th character if that is specified, and stopping after `count` characters if that is specified. Provide at least one of `start` and `count`. `substring('Thomas' from 2 for 3)` hom `substring('Thomas' from 3)` omas `substring('Thomas' for 2)` Th
`substring` ( `string` text `FROM` `pattern` text ) text Extracts the first substring matching POSIX regular expression; see Section 9.7.3. `substring('Thomas' from '...$')` mas
`substring` ( `string` text `SIMILAR` `pattern` text `ESCAPE` `escape` text ) text `substring` ( `string` text `FROM` `pattern` text `FOR` `escape` text ) text Extracts the first substring matching SQL regular expression; see Section 9.7.2. The first form has been specified since SQL:2003; the second form was only in SQL:1999 and should be considered obsolete. `substring('Thomas' similar '%#"o_a#"_' escape '#')` oma
`trim` ( [ `LEADING` | `TRAILING` | `BOTH` ] [ `characters` text ] `FROM` `string` text ) text Removes the longest string containing only characters in `characters` (a space by default) from the start, end, or both ends (`BOTH` is the default) of `string`. `trim(both 'xyz' from 'yxTomxx')` Tom
`trim` ( [ `LEADING` | `TRAILING` | `BOTH` ] [ `FROM` ] `string` text [, `characters` text ] ) text This is a non-standard syntax for `trim()`. `trim(both from 'yxTomxx', 'xyz')` Tom
`unicode_assigned` ( text ) boolean Returns `true` if all characters in the string are assigned Unicode codepoints; `false` otherwise. This function can only be used when the server encoding is `UTF8`.
`upper` ( text ) text Converts the string to all upper case, according to the rules of the database's locale. `upper('tom')` TOM

Additional string manipulation functions and operators are available and are listed in Table 9.10. (Some of these are used internally to implement the SQL-standard string functions listed in Table 9.9.) There are also pattern-matching operators, which are described in Section 9.7, and operators for full-text search, which are described in Chapter 12.

Table 9.10. Other String Functions and Operators

Function/Operator Description Example(s)
text `^@` text boolean Returns true if the first string starts with the second string (equivalent to the `starts_with()` function). `'alphabet' ^@ 'alph'` t
`ascii` ( text ) integer Returns the numeric code of the first character of the argument. In UTF8 encoding, returns the Unicode code point of the character. In other multibyte encodings, the argument must be an ASCII character. `ascii('x')` 120
`chr` ( integer ) text Returns the character with the given code. In UTF8 encoding the argument is treated as a Unicode code point. In other multibyte encodings the argument must designate an ASCII character. `chr(0)` is disallowed because text data types cannot store that character. `chr(65)` A
`concat` ( `val1` "any" [, `val2` "any" [, ...] ] ) text Concatenates the text representations of all the arguments. NULL arguments are ignored. `concat('abcde', 2, NULL, 22)` abcde222
`concat_ws` ( `sep` text, `val1` "any" [, `val2` "any" [, ...] ] ) text Concatenates all but the first argument, with separators. The first argument is used as the separator string, and should not be NULL. Other NULL arguments are ignored. `concat_ws(',', 'abcde', 2, NULL, 22)` abcde,2,22
`format` ( `formatstr` text [, `formatarg` "any" [, ...] ] ) text Formats arguments according to a format string; see Section 9.4.1. This function is similar to the C function `sprintf`. `format('Hello %s, %1$s', 'World')` Hello World, World
`initcap` ( text ) text Converts the first letter of each word to upper case and the rest to lower case. Words are sequences of alphanumeric characters separated by non-alphanumeric characters. `initcap('hi THOMAS')` Hi Thomas
`casefold` ( text ) text Performs case folding of the input string according to the collation. Case folding is similar to case conversion, but the purpose of case folding is to facilitate case-insensitive matching of strings, whereas the purpose of case conversion is to convert to a particular cased form. This function can only be used when the server encoding is `UTF8`. Ordinarily, case folding simply converts to lowercase, but there may be exceptions depending on the collation. For instance, some characters have more than two lowercase variants, or fold to uppercase. Case folding may change the length of the string. For instance, in the `PG_UNICODE_FAST` collation, `ß` (U+00DF) folds to `ss`. `casefold` can be used for Unicode Default Caseless Matching. It does not always preserve the normalized form of the input string (see normalize). The `libc` provider doesn't support case folding, so `casefold` is identical to lower.
`left` ( `string` text, `n` integer ) text Returns first `n` characters in the string, or when `n` is negative, returns all but last |`n`| characters. `left('abcde', 2)` ab
`length` ( text ) integer Returns the number of characters in the string. `length('jose')` 4
`md5` ( text ) text Computes the MD5 hash of the argument, with the result written in hexadecimal. `md5('abc')` 900150983cd24fb0​d6963f7d28e17f72
`parse_ident` ( `qualified_identifier` text [, `strict_mode` boolean `DEFAULT` `true` ] ) text[] Splits `qualified_identifier` into an array of identifiers, removing any quoting of individual identifiers. By default, extra characters after the last identifier are considered an error; but if the second parameter is `false`, then such extra characters are ignored. (This behavior is useful for parsing names for objects like functions.) Note that this function does not truncate over-length identifiers. If you want truncation you can cast the result to name[]. `parse_ident('"SomeSchema".someTable')` {SomeSchema,sometable}
`pg_client_encoding` ( ) name Returns current client encoding name. `pg_client_encoding()` UTF8
`quote_ident` ( text ) text Returns the given string suitably quoted to be used as an identifier in an SQL statement string. Quotes are added only if necessary (i.e., if the string contains non-identifier characters or would be case-folded). Embedded quotes are properly doubled. See also Example 41.1. `quote_ident('Foo bar')` "Foo bar"
`quote_literal` ( text ) text Returns the given string suitably quoted to be used as a string literal in an SQL statement string. Embedded single-quotes and backslashes are properly doubled. Note that `quote_literal` returns null on null input; if the argument might be null, `quote_nullable` is often more suitable. See also Example 41.1. `quote_literal(E'O\'Reilly')` 'O''Reilly'
`quote_literal` ( anyelement ) text Converts the given value to text and then quotes it as a literal. Embedded single-quotes and backslashes are properly doubled. `quote_literal(42.5)` '42.5'
`quote_nullable` ( text ) text Returns the given string suitably quoted to be used as a string literal in an SQL statement string; or, if the argument is null, returns `NULL`. Embedded single-quotes and backslashes are properly doubled. See also Example 41.1. `quote_nullable(NULL)` NULL
`quote_nullable` ( anyelement ) text Converts the given value to text and then quotes it as a literal; or, if the argument is null, returns `NULL`. Embedded single-quotes and backslashes are properly doubled. `quote_nullable(42.5)` '42.5'
`regexp_count` ( `string` text, `pattern` text [, `start` integer [, `flags` text ] ] ) integer Returns the number of times the POSIX regular expression `pattern` matches in the `string`; see Section 9.7.3. `regexp_count('123456789012', '\d\d\d', 2)` 3
`regexp_instr` ( `string` text, `pattern` text [, `start` integer [, `N` integer [, `endoption` integer [, `flags` text [, `subexpr` integer ] ] ] ] ] ) integer Returns the position within `string` where the `N`'th match of the POSIX regular expression `pattern` occurs, or zero if there is no such match; see Section 9.7.3. `regexp_instr('ABCDEF', 'c(.)(..)', 1, 1, 0, 'i')` 3 `regexp_instr('ABCDEF', 'c(.)(..)', 1, 1, 0, 'i', 2)` 5
`regexp_like` ( `string` text, `pattern` text [, `flags` text ] ) boolean Checks whether a match of the POSIX regular expression `pattern` occurs within `string`; see Section 9.7.3. `regexp_like('Hello World', 'world$', 'i')` t
`regexp_match` ( `string` text, `pattern` text [, `flags` text ] ) text[] Returns substrings within the first match of the POSIX regular expression `pattern` to the `string`; see Section 9.7.3. `regexp_match('foobarbequebaz', '(bar)(beque)')` {bar,beque}
`regexp_matches` ( `string` text, `pattern` text [, `flags` text ] ) setof text[] Returns substrings within the first match of the POSIX regular expression `pattern` to the `string`, or substrings within all such matches if the `g` flag is used; see Section 9.7.3. `regexp_matches('foobarbequebaz', 'ba.', 'g')`
     {bar}
     {baz}
`regexp_replace` ( `string` text, `pattern` text, `replacement` text [, `flags` text ] ) text Replaces the substring that is the first match to the POSIX regular expression `pattern`, or all such matches if the `g` flag is used; see Section 9.7.3. `regexp_replace('Thomas', '.[mN]a.', 'M')` ThM
`regexp_replace` ( `string` text, `pattern` text, `replacement` text, `start` integer [, `N` integer [, `flags` text ] ] ) text Replaces the substring that is the `N`'th match to the POSIX regular expression `pattern`, or all such matches if `N` is zero, with the search beginning at the `start`'th character of `string`. If `N` is omitted, it defaults to 1. See Section 9.7.3. `regexp_replace('Thomas', '.', 'X', 3, 2)` ThoXas `regexp_replace(string=>'hello world', pattern=>'l', replacement=>'XX', start=>1, "N"=>2)` helXXo world
`regexp_split_to_array` ( `string` text, `pattern` text [, `flags` text ] ) text[] Splits `string` using a POSIX regular expression as the delimiter, producing an array of results; see Section 9.7.3. `regexp_split_to_array('hello world', '\s+')` {hello,world}
`regexp_split_to_table` ( `string` text, `pattern` text [, `flags` text ] ) setof text Splits `string` using a POSIX regular expression as the delimiter, producing a set of results; see Section 9.7.3. `regexp_split_to_table('hello world', '\s+')`
     hello
     world
`regexp_substr` ( `string` text, `pattern` text [, `start` integer [, `N` integer [, `flags` text [, `subexpr` integer ] ] ] ] ) text Returns the substring within `string` that matches the `N`'th occurrence of the POSIX regular expression `pattern`, or `NULL` if there is no such match; see Section 9.7.3. `regexp_substr('ABCDEF', 'c(.)(..)', 1, 1, 'i')` CDEF `regexp_substr('ABCDEF', 'c(.)(..)', 1, 1, 'i', 2)` EF
`repeat` ( `string` text, `number` integer ) text Repeats `string` the specified `number` of times. `repeat('Pg', 4)` PgPgPgPg
`replace` ( `string` text, `from` text, `to` text ) text Replaces all occurrences in `string` of substring `from` with substring `to`. `replace('abcdefabcdef', 'cd', 'XX')` abXXefabXXef
`reverse` ( text ) text Reverses the order of the characters in the string. `reverse('abcde')` edcba
`right` ( `string` text, `n` integer ) text Returns last `n` characters in the string, or when `n` is negative, returns all but first |`n`| characters. `right('abcde', 2)` de
`split_part` ( `string` text, `delimiter` text, `n` integer ) text Splits `string` at occurrences of `delimiter` and returns the `n`'th field (counting from one), or when `n` is negative, returns the |`n`|'th-from-last field. `split_part('abc~@~def~@~ghi', '~@~', 2)` def `split_part('abc,def,ghi,jkl', ',', -2)` ghi
`starts_with` ( `string` text, `prefix` text ) boolean Returns true if `string` starts with `prefix`. `starts_with('alphabet', 'alph')` t
`string_to_array` ( `string` text, `delimiter` text [, `null_string` text ] ) text[] Splits the `string` at occurrences of `delimiter` and forms the resulting fields into a text array. If `delimiter` is `NULL`, each character in the `string` will become a separate element in the array. If `delimiter` is an empty string, then the `string` is treated as a single field. If `null_string` is supplied and is not `NULL`, fields matching that string are replaced by `NULL`. See also `array_to_string`. `string_to_array('xx~~yy~~zz', '~~', 'yy')` {xx,NULL,zz}
`string_to_table` ( `string` text, `delimiter` text [, `null_string` text ] ) setof text Splits the `string` at occurrences of `delimiter` and returns the resulting fields as a set of text rows. If `delimiter` is `NULL`, each character in the `string` will become a separate row of the result. If `delimiter` is an empty string, then the `string` is treated as a single field. If `null_string` is supplied and is not `NULL`, fields matching that string are replaced by `NULL`. `string_to_table('xx~^~yy~^~zz', '~^~', 'yy')`
     xx
     NULL
     zz
`strpos` ( `string` text, `substring` text ) integer Returns first starting index of the specified `substring` within `string`, or zero if it's not present. (Same as `position(`substring` in `string`)`, but note the reversed argument order.) `strpos('high', 'ig')` 2
`substr` ( `string` text, `start` integer [, `count` integer ] ) text Extracts the substring of `string` starting at the `start`'th character, and extending for `count` characters if that is specified. (Same as `substring(`string` from `start` for `count`)`.) `substr('alphabet', 3)` phabet `substr('alphabet', 3, 2)` ph
`to_ascii` ( `string` text ) text `to_ascii` ( `string` text, `encoding` name ) text `to_ascii` ( `string` text, `encoding` integer ) text Converts `string` to ASCII from another encoding, which may be identified by name or number. If `encoding` is omitted the database encoding is assumed (which in practice is the only useful case). The conversion consists primarily of dropping accents. Conversion is only supported from `LATIN1`, `LATIN2`, `LATIN9`, and `WIN1250` encodings. (See the unaccent module for another, more flexible solution.) `to_ascii('Karél')` Karel
`to_bin` ( integer ) text `to_bin` ( bigint ) text Converts the number to its equivalent two's complement binary representation. `to_bin(2147483647)` 1111111111111111111111111111111 `to_bin(-1234)` 11111111111111111111101100101110
`to_hex` ( integer ) text `to_hex` ( bigint ) text Converts the number to its equivalent two's complement hexadecimal representation. `to_hex(2147483647)` 7fffffff `to_hex(-1234)` fffffb2e
`to_oct` ( integer ) text `to_oct` ( bigint ) text Converts the number to its equivalent two's complement octal representation. `to_oct(2147483647)` 17777777777 `to_oct(-1234)` 37777775456
`translate` ( `string` text, `from` text, `to` text ) text Replaces each character in `string` that matches a character in the `from` set with the corresponding character in the `to` set. If `from` is longer than `to`, occurrences of the extra characters in `from` are deleted. `translate('12345', '143', 'ax')` a2x5
`unistr` ( text ) text Evaluate escaped Unicode characters in the argument. Unicode characters can be specified as `\`XXXX`` (4 hexadecimal digits), `\+`XXXXXX`` (6 hexadecimal digits), `\u`XXXX`` (4 hexadecimal digits), or `\U`XXXXXXXX`` (8 hexadecimal digits). To specify a backslash, write two backslashes. All other characters are taken literally. If the server encoding is not UTF-8, the Unicode code point identified by one of these escape sequences is converted to the actual server encoding; an error is reported if that's not possible. This function provides a (non-standard) alternative to string constants with Unicode escapes (see Section 4.1.2.3). `unistr('d\0061t\+000061')` data `unistr('d\u0061t\U00000061')` data

The `concat`, `concat_ws` and `format` functions are variadic, so it is possible to pass the values to be concatenated or formatted as an array marked with the `VARIADIC` keyword (see Section 36.5.6). The array's elements are treated as if they were separate ordinary arguments to the function. If the variadic array argument is NULL, `concat` and `concat_ws` return NULL, but `format` treats a NULL as a zero-element array.

See also the aggregate function `string_agg` in Section 9.21, and the functions for converting between strings and the bytea type in Table 9.13.

### 9.4.1. `format` #

The function `format` produces output formatted according to a format string, in a style similar to the C function `sprintf`.

    format(formatstr text [, formatarg "any" [, ...] ])

`formatstr` is a format string that specifies how the result should be formatted. Text in the format string is copied directly to the result, except where format specifiers are used. Format specifiers act as placeholders in the string, defining how subsequent function arguments should be formatted and inserted into the result. Each `formatarg` argument is converted to text according to the usual output rules for its data type, and then formatted and inserted into the result string according to the format specifier(s).

Format specifiers are introduced by a `%` character and have the form

    %[position][flags][width]type

where the component fields are:

`position` (optional)

  A string of the form ``n`$` where `n` is the index of the argument to print. Index 1 means the first argument after `formatstr`. If the `position` is omitted, the default is to use the next argument in sequence.

`flags` (optional)

  Additional options controlling how the format specifier's output is formatted. Currently the only supported flag is a minus sign (`-`) which will cause the format specifier's output to be left-justified. This has no effect unless the `width` field is also specified.

`width` (optional)

  Specifies the minimum number of characters to use to display the format specifier's output. The output is padded on the left or right (depending on the `-` flag) with spaces as needed to fill the width. A too-small width does not cause truncation of the output, but is simply ignored. The width may be specified using any of the following: a positive integer; an asterisk (`*`) to use the next function argument as the width; or a string of the form `*`n`$` to use the `n`th function argument as the width.

  If the width comes from a function argument, that argument is consumed before the argument that is used for the format specifier's value. If the width argument is negative, the result is left aligned (as if the `-` flag had been specified) within a field of length `abs`(`width`).

`type` (required)

  The type of format conversion to use to produce the format specifier's output. The following types are supported:

  - `s` formats the argument value as a simple string. A null value is treated as an empty string.

  - `I` treats the argument value as an SQL identifier, double-quoting it if necessary. It is an error for the value to be null (equivalent to `quote_ident`).

  - `L` quotes the argument value as an SQL literal. A null value is displayed as the string `NULL`, without quotes (equivalent to `quote_nullable`).

In addition to the format specifiers described above, the special sequence `%%` may be used to output a literal `%` character.

Here are some examples of the basic format conversions:

    SELECT format('Hello %s', 'World');
    Result: Hello World

    SELECT format('Testing %s, %s, %s, %%', 'one', 'two', 'three');
    Result: Testing one, two, three, %

    SELECT format('INSERT INTO %I VALUES(%L)', 'Foo bar', E'O\'Reilly');
    Result: INSERT INTO "Foo bar" VALUES('O''Reilly')

    SELECT format('INSERT INTO %I VALUES(%L)', 'locations', 'C:\Program Files');
    Result: INSERT INTO locations VALUES('C:\Program Files')

Here are examples using `width` fields and the `-` flag:

    SELECT format('|%10s|', 'foo');
    Result: |       foo|

    SELECT format('|%-10s|', 'foo');
    Result: |foo       |

    SELECT format('|%*s|', 10, 'foo');
    Result: |       foo|

    SELECT format('|%*s|', -10, 'foo');
    Result: |foo       |

    SELECT format('|%-*s|', 10, 'foo');
    Result: |foo       |

    SELECT format('|%-*s|', -10, 'foo');
    Result: |foo       |

These examples show use of `position` fields:

    SELECT format('Testing %3$s, %2$s, %1$s', 'one', 'two', 'three');
    Result: Testing three, two, one

    SELECT format('|%*2$s|', 'foo', 10, 'bar');
    Result: |       bar|

    SELECT format('|%1$*2$s|', 'foo', 10, 'bar');
    Result: |       foo|

Unlike the standard C function `sprintf`, PostgreSQL™'s `format` function allows format specifiers with and without `position` fields to be mixed in the same format string. A format specifier without a `position` field always uses the next argument after the last argument consumed. In addition, the `format` function does not require all function arguments to be used in the format string. For example:

    SELECT format('Testing %3$s, %2$s, %s', 'one', 'two', 'three');
    Result: Testing three, two, three

The `%I` and `%L` format specifiers are particularly useful for safely constructing dynamic SQL statements. See Example 41.1.

| Up |
| Home |