MySQL CHAR_LENGTH() Function

In MySQL, the CHAR_LENGTH() function returns the length of the given string. CHAR_LENGTH() returns number of characters in the given string. The CHARACTER_LENGTH() function is an alias of the CHAR_LENGTH() function.

CHAR_LENGTH() Syntax

Here is the syntax of the MySQL CHAR_LENGTH() function:

CHAR_LENGTH(string)

Parameters

string

Required. The string to be calculated.

Return value

The CHAR_LENGTH() function returns number of characters in the given string. It will return NULL if the string parameter is NULL.

CHAR_LENGTH() Examples

To return the length of Hello, use the following statement:

SELECT CHAR_LENGTH('Hello');

+----------------------+
| CHAR_LENGTH('Hello') |
+----------------------+
|                    5 |
+----------------------+

You can use Chinese characters like 你好 :

SELECT CHAR_LENGTH('你好');

+-----------------------+
| CHAR_LENGTH('你好')   |
+-----------------------+
|                     2 |
+-----------------------+

Note that it returned 2. Because there are only 2 characters in this string: 你好.