MySQL CHARACTER_LENGTH() Function

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

CHARACTER_LENGTH() Syntax

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

CHARACTER_LENGTH(string)

Parameters

string

Required. The string to be calculated.

Return value

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

CHARACTER_LENGTH() Examples

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

SELECT CHARACTER_LENGTH('Hello');

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

You can use Chinese characters like 你好 :

SELECT CHARACTER_LENGTH('你好');

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

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