Share via


LEN (Transact-SQL)

Returns the number of characters of the specified string expression, excluding trailing blanks.

Note

To return the number of bytes used to represent an expression, use the DATALENGTH function.

Topic link iconTransact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax

LEN ( string_expression )

Arguments

  • string_expression
    Is the string expression to be evaluated.

Return Types

bigint if expression is of the varchar(max), nvarchar(max) or varbinary(max) data types; otherwise, int.

Examples

The following example selects the number of characters and the data in FirstName for people located in Australia.

USE AdventureWorks;
GO
SELECT LEN(FirstName) AS Length, FirstName, LastName 
FROM Sales.vIndividualCustomer
WHERE CountryRegionName = 'Australia';
GO

See Also

Reference

Data Types (Transact-SQL)
String Functions (Transact-SQL)
DATALENGTH (Transact-SQL)
LEFT (Transact-SQL)
RIGHT (Transact-SQL)

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance