MySQL UUID_TO_BIN() Function

In MySQL, the UUID_TO_BIN() function converts a specified string UUID to a binary UUID and returns the result.

The UUID_TO_BIN() function is the reverse operation of the BIN_TO_UUID() function.

UUID_TO_BIN() Syntax

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

UUID_TO_BIN(string_uuid, swap_flag)

Parameters

string_uuid

Required. A binary UUID.

swap_flag

Optional. The wap flag, available values are 0 and 1. The default is 0.

Return value

The MySQL UUID_TO_BIN() function converts a specified string UUID to a binary UUID and returns the result.

If the argument swap_flag is 1, the UUID_TO_BIN() function will swap the time-low part and the time-high part in the UUID.

If the parameter string_uuid is NULL, the function will return NULL.

If any of the parameters are invalid, an error will be generated.

UUID_TO_BIN() Examples

This example shows the basic usage of the UUID_TO_BIN() function.

First, let’s create a string UUID as follow:

set @string_uuid = 'b45f7406-cf63-11ec-aeab-0242ac110003';

Then, let’s convert the binary UUID created above to a binary UUID:

SELECT UUID_TO_BIN(@string_uuid);

+---------------------------+
| UUID_TO_BIN(@string_uuid) |
+---------------------------+
| �_t�c쮫B�               |
+---------------------------+

Here, the binary data is not readable on the command line. We can convert it to a hex string using the HEX() function:

SELECT HEX(UUID_TO_BIN(@string_uuid));

+----------------------------------+
| HEX(UUID_TO_BIN(@string_uuid))   |
+----------------------------------+
| B45F7406CF6311ECAEAB0242AC110003 |
+----------------------------------+

Of course, we can also use the BIN_TO_UUID() function:

SELECT BIN_TO_UUID(UUID_TO_BIN(@string_uuid));

+----------------------------------------+
| BIN_TO_UUID(UUID_TO_BIN(@string_uuid)) |
+----------------------------------------+
| b45f7406-cf63-11ec-aeab-0242ac110003   |
+----------------------------------------+

Let’s swap the time-low part and the time-high part of the UUID using the swap_flag = 1 parameter :

SELECT HEX(UUID_TO_BIN(@string_uuid, 1));

+-----------------------------------+
| HEX(UUID_TO_BIN(@string_uuid, 1)) |
+-----------------------------------+
| 11ECCF63B45F7406AEAB0242AC110003  |
+-----------------------------------+

Here, B45F7406 and 11EC were swapped.