docs-v2/content/shared/sql-reference/functions/binary-string.md

Use binary string functions to encode and decode binary string values in SQL queries.

• decode
• encode

decode

Decode binary data from textual representation in string.

decode(expression, format)

Arguments

• expression: Expression containing encoded string data. Can be a constant, column, or function, and any combination of string operators.
• format: Encoding format of the encoded string. Supported formats are:
  • base64
  • hex

Related functions

encode

encode

Encode binary data into a textual representation.

encode(expression, format)

Arguments

• expression: Expression containing string or binary data. Can be a constant, column, or function, and any combination of string operators.
• format: Encoding format to use. Supported formats are:
  • base64
  • hex

Related functions

decode

{{< expand-wrapper >}} {{% expand "View encode query example" %}}

The following example uses the NOAA Bay Area weather sample data.

SELECT DISTINCT
  location,
  encode(location::string, 'hex') AS location_encoded
FROM weather

location	location_encoded
Concord	436f6e636f7264
Hayward	48617977617264
San Francisco	53616e204672616e636973636f

{{% /expand %}} {{< /expand-wrapper >}}