String functions and operators

String operators

Operator	Expression & Description	Example
\|\|	`expression1 \|\| expression2 [ \|\| expression ] ...` Concatenates two or more expressions.	`'Abcde' \|\| 1 \|\| 23` → `Abcde123`
`^@`	`string ^@ substring` Returns true (`t`) if string starts with substring. This operator is equivalent to the `starts_with`() function.	`'abcdef' ^@ 'abc'` → `t`

String functions

Function	Description	Example
`ascii` ( input_string ) → int	Returns the Unicode code point of the first character of the input_string. If the string is empty, it returns `NULL`.	`ascii('RisingWave')` → `82` `ascii('🌊')` → `127754`
`bit_length` ( input_string ) → integer	Returns number of bits in the input string, which is 8 times the `octet_length`.	`bit_length('wave')` → `32`
`btrim` ( input_string [, characters ]) → output_string	Equals to `trim (BOTH)`.	`btrim(' cake ')` → 'cake' `btrim('abcxyzabc', 'cba')` → `xyz`
`char_length` ( input_string ) → integer_output `character_length` ( input_string ) → integer_output `length` ( input_string ) → integer_output	Returns the number of characters in input_string.	`char_length('wave')` → `4`
`chr` ( input_int ) → string	Returns the character with the Unicode code point equivalent to the input_int value provided.	`chr(65)` → `A`
`concat` ( any_input-value_1 [, any_input-value_2 [, ...] ]) → output_string	Concatenates the arguments. NULL arguments are ignored.	`concat('Abcde', 2, NULL, 22)` → `Abcde222`
`concat_ws` ( separator_string, any_input-value_1 [, any_input-value_2 [, ...] ]) → output_string	Concatenates the arguments with a separator. The first argument is used as the separator, and should not be NULL. Other NULL arguments are ignored.	`concat_ws(',', 'Abcde', 2, NULL, 22)` → `Abcde,2,22`
`decode`(input_string, format_type) → bytea	Decodes the text data in input_string into binary data. Supported formats for the encoded input_string include `base64`, `hex`, and `escape`.	`decode('MTIz', 'base64')` → `123`
`encode`(bytea, format_type) → output_string	Encodes the binary data in bytea into its textual representation. Supported encoding formats include `base64`, `hex`, and `escape`.	`encode(E'123'::bytea, 'base64')` → `MTIz`
`initcap`( input_string ) → string	Capitalizes the first letter of each word in the input_string and converts the remaining characters to lowercase.	`initcap('POWERFUL and flexible')` → `Powerful And Flexible`
`lower` ( input_string ) → output_string	Converts the string to all lowercase.	`lower('TOM')` → `tom`
`lpad`( input_string, input_int ) → string lpad( input_string, input_int, padding_string ) → string	Pads the input_string on the left with spaces until it reaches the specified input_int length. If the input_string is longer than the input_int length, it is truncated to the specified length. Providing the optional padding_string replaces the spaces with the padding_string.	`lpad('42', 5)` → ' 42' `lpad('42', 5, 'R')` → `RRR42`
`ltrim` ( input_string [, characters ]) → output_string	Equals to `trim (LEADING)`.	`ltrim(' cake ')` → 'cake ' `ltrim('abcxyzabc', 'cba')` → `xyzabc`
`octet_length ( input_string )`	Returns number of bytes in the string.	`octet_length('wave')` → `4`
`overlay` ( input_string PLACING substring FROM start_int [ FOR length_int ]) → output_string	Replaces a substring in input_string with substring, starting at start_int and with length_int. If length_int is omitted, its value is the length of substring.	`overlay('yabadoo' PLACING 'daba' FROM 5 FOR 0)` → `yabadabadoo` `overlay('abcdef' PLACING '45' FROM 4)` → `abc45f` `overlay('RisingWave' PLACING '🌊' FROM 7)` → `Rising🌊ave`
`position` ( substring in input_string ) → integer_output	Returns the starting index of the specified substring within input_string, or zero if it is not present.	`position('ing' in 'rising')` → `4`
`rtrim` ( input_string [, characters ]) → output_string	Equals to `trim (TRAILING)`.	`rtrim(' cake ')` → ' cake' `rtrim('abcxyzabc', 'cba')` → `abcxyz`
`regexp_match` ( input_string, pattern, [, optional_flag ] ) → matched_string []	Returns a string array of captured substring(s) resulting from the first match of a POSIX regular expression pattern to a string. If there is no match, the result is NULL. Optional flags include `i`, which stands for case-insensitive matching, and `c`, which represents case-sensitive matching.	`regexp_match('foobarbequebaz', '(bar)(beque)')` → `{bar,beque}` `regexp_match('abc', 'd')` → `NULL` `regexp_match('abc', 'Bc', 'ici')` → `{bc}`
`regexp_matches` ( input_string, pattern, [, optional_flag ] ) → set_of_matched_string []	Returns a set of string arrays of captured substring(s) resulting from matching a POSIX regular expression pattern to a string. Returns all matches by default. Optional flags include `i`, which stands for case-insensitive matching, and `c`, which represents case-sensitive matching.	`regexp_matches('foobarbequebazilbarfbonk', '(b[^b]+)(b[^b]+)')` → `{bar,beque}` `{bazil,barf}` `regexp_matches('abcabc', 'Bc', 'i')` → `{bc}` `{bc}`
`repeat` ( input_string, times_int ) → output_string	Repeats input_string specific times. Null is returned when times_int is zero, negative, or null.	`repeat('A1b2', 3)` → `A1b2A1b2A1b2`
`replace` ( input_string, from_string, to_string ) → output_string	Replaces all occurrences of substring from_string in input_string with substring to_string.	`replace('abcdefabcdef', 'cd', 'XX')` → `abXXefabXXef`
`reverse`( input_string ) → string	Returns the input_string with its characters in the reverse order.	`reverse('RisingWave')` → `evaWgnisiR`
`rpad`( input_string, input_int ) → string rpad( input_string, input_int, padding_string ) → string	Pads the input_string on the right with spaces until it reaches the specified input_int length. If the input_string is longer than the input_int length, it is truncated to the specified length. Providing the optional padding_string replaces the spaces with the padding_string.	`rpad('42', 5)` → '42 ' `rpad('42', 5, 'R')` → `42RRR`
`split_part` ( input_string , delimiter_string, int_n ) → varchar	Splits input_string at occurrences of delimiter_string and returns the int_n'th field (counting from one), or when int_n is negative, returns the \|int_n\|'th-from-last field. When int_n is zero, returns an 'InvalidParameterValue' error. When the input delimiter_string is an empty string, returns the input_string if querying the first or last field. Otherwise, returns an empty string.	`split_part('abc~@~def~@~ghi', '~@~', 2)` → `def`
`starts_with`( input_string, prefix_string ) → boolean	Returns true if the input_string starts with the specified prefix_string, otherwise returns false.	`starts_with('RisingWave is powerful', 'Rising')` → `true`
`starts_with`( input_string, substring ) → boolean	Returns true (`t`) if input_string starts with substring. This function is equivalent to the `^@` operator.	`starts_with('abcdef', 'abc')` → `t`
`strpos`( input_string, substring ) → int	Returns the position of the first occurrence of the substring in the input_string. If the substring is not found, it returns 0.	`strpos('RisingWave is powerful', 'powerful')` → `15`
`substr`/`substring` ( input_string , start_int [, count_int ]) → output_string	Extracts the substring from input_string starting at position start_int and extending for count_int characters, if specified. start_int should be equal to or larger than 1.	`substr('alphabet', 3)` → `phabet`; `substring('alphabet', 3, 2)` → `ph`
`to_ascii`( input_string ) → string	Returns the input_string with non-ASCII characters replaced by their closest ASCII equivalents.	`to_ascii('Café')` → `Cafe`
`to_hex`( input_int ) → string `to_hex`( input_bigint ) → string	Converts input_int or input_bigint to its hexadecimal representation as a string.	`to_hex(255)` → `ff` `to_hex(123456789012345678)` → `1b69b4ba630f34e`
`translate` ( input_string, from_string, to_string) → output_string	Replaces each character in the input_string that matches a character in the from_string with the corresponding character in the to_string.	`translate('M1X3', '13', 'ae')` → `MaXe`
`trim` ( [ LEADING \| TRAILING \| BOTH ] [ characters ] FROM input_string ) → output_string	Trims the longest contiguous substring of characters from the beginning, end, or both ends (BOTH by default) of `input_string` that contains only the characters specified in `characters` (which defaults to whitespace if not specified).	`trim(' cake ')` → 'cake' `trim(both 'cba' from 'abcxyzabc')` → `xyz`
`trim` ( [ LEADING \| TRAILING \| BOTH ][ FROM ] input_string [, characters ] ) → output_string	An alternative syntax of `trim()`.	`trim(both from 'abcxyzabc', 'cba')` → `xyz` `trim('abcxyzabc', 'cba')` → `xyz`
`upper` ( input_string ) → output_string	Converts the string to all uppercase.	`upper('tom')` → `TOM`

Pattern matching expressions

string NOT LIKE pattern [ ESCAPE '' ]
string LIKE pattern [ ESCAPE '' ]

The LIKE expression returns true if the string matches the supplied pattern. The NOT LIKE expression returns false if LIKE returns true.

Wildcards

An underscore _ in a pattern matches any single character
A percent sign % matches any sequence of zero or more characters.

If the pattern does not contain _ or %, then the pattern only represents the string itself. For example, the pattern 'apple' matches only the string 'apple'. In that case, LIKE acts like the equals operator =.

Escape

To match a literal underscore or percent sign without matching other characters, the respective character in pattern must be preceded by the escape character \. To match the escape character itself, write two escape characters: \\.

You can use ESCAPE '' to disable the escape mechanism, but specifying a custom escape character using the ESCAPE clause is not supported.

Examples

'abc' LIKE 'abc'           true
'abc' LIKE 'a%'            true
'abc' LIKE '_b_'           true
'abc' LIKE 'c'             false

String operators​