impala_string_functions.xml

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<!DOCTYPE concept PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DITA Concept//EN" "concept.dtd">
<concept id="string_functions">

  <title>Impala String Functions</title>

  <titlealts audience="PDF">

    <navtitle>String Functions</navtitle>

  </titlealts>

  <prolog>
    <metadata>
      <data name="Category" value="Impala"/>
      <data name="Category" value="Impala Functions"/>
      <data name="Category" value="SQL"/>
      <data name="Category" value="Data Analysts"/>
      <data name="Category" value="Developers"/>
      <data name="Category" value="Querying"/>
    </metadata>
  </prolog>

  <conbody>

    <p rev="2.0.0">
      String functions are classified as those primarily accepting or returning
      <codeph>STRING</codeph>, <codeph>VARCHAR</codeph>, or <codeph>CHAR</codeph> data types,
      for example to measure the length of a string or concatenate two strings together.
      <ul>
        <li>
          All the functions that accept <codeph>STRING</codeph> arguments also accept the
          <codeph>VARCHAR</codeph> and <codeph>CHAR</codeph> types introduced in Impala 2.0.
        </li>

        <li>
          Whenever <codeph>VARCHAR</codeph> or <codeph>CHAR</codeph> values are passed to a
          function that returns a string value, the return type is normalized to
          <codeph>STRING</codeph>. For example, a call to <codeph>CONCAT()</codeph> with a mix
          of <codeph>STRING</codeph>, <codeph>VARCHAR</codeph>, and <codeph>CHAR</codeph>
          arguments produces a <codeph>STRING</codeph> result.
        </li>
      </ul>
    </p>

    <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/related_info"/>

    <p>
      The string functions operate mainly on these data types:
      <xref href="impala_string.xml#string"/>, <xref href="impala_varchar.xml#varchar"/>, and
      <xref href="impala_char.xml#char"/>.
    </p>

    <p>
      <b>Function reference:</b>
    </p>

    <p>
      Impala supports the following string functions:
    </p>

    <ul>
      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/ascii">ASCII</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/base64decode">BASE64DECODE</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/base64encode">BASE64ENCODE</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/btrim">BTRIM</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/bytes">BYTES</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/char_length">CHAR_LENGTH, CHARACTER_LENGTH</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/chr">CHR</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/concat">CONCAT</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/concat_ws">CONCAT_WS</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/find_in_set">FIND_IN_SET</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/group_concat">GROUP_CONCAT</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/initcap">INITCAP</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/instr">INSTR</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/jaro_distance">JARO_DISTANCE, JARO_DIST</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/jaro_similarity">JARO_SIMILARITY, JARO_SIM</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/jaro_winkler_distance">JARO_WINKER_DISTANCE, JW_DST</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/jaro_winkler_similarity">JARO_WINKER_SIMILARITY, JW_SIM</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/left">LEFT</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/length">LENGTH</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/levenshtein">LEVENSHTEIN, LE_DST</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/locate">LOCATE</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/lower">LOWER, LCASE</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/lpad">LPAD</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/ltrim">LTRIM</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/parse_url">PARSE_URL</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/regexp_escape">REGEXP_ESCAPE</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/regexp_extract">REGEXP_EXTRACT</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/regexp_like">REGEXP_LIKE</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/regexp_replace">REGEXP_REPLACE</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/repeat">REPEAT</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/replace">REPLACE</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/reverse">REVERSE</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/right">RIGHT</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/rpad">RPAD</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/rtrim">RTRIM</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/space">SPACE</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/split_part">SPLIT_PART</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/strleft">STRLEFT</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/strright">STRRIGHT</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/substr">SUBSTR, SUBSTRING</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/translate">TRANSLATE</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/trim">TRIM</xref>
      </li>

      <li>
        <xref href="#string_functions/upper">UPPER, UCASE</xref>
      </li>
    </ul>

    <dl>
      <dlentry id="ascii">

        <dt>
          ASCII(STRING str)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the numeric ASCII code of the first character of the argument.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>INT</codeph>
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="base64decode" rev="2.6.0 IMPALA-2107">

        <dt>
          BASE64DECODE(STRING str)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b>
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/usage_notes_blurb"/>

          <p>
            For general information about Base64 encoding, see
            <xref
              keyref="base64"/>.
          </p>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/base64_use_cases"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/base64_charset"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/base64_alignment"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/base64_error_handling"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/example_blurb"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/base64_examples"/>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="base64encode" rev="2.6.0 IMPALA-2107">

        <dt>
          BASE64ENCODE(STRING str)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b>
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/usage_notes_blurb"/>

          <p>
            For general information about Base64 encoding, see
            <xref
              keyref="base64"/>.
          </p>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/base64_use_cases"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/base64_charset"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/base64_alignment"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/example_blurb"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/base64_examples"/>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry rev="2.3.0" id="btrim">

        <dt>
          BTRIM(STRING a), BTRIM(STRING a, STRING chars_to_trim)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Removes all instances of one or more characters from the start and end
          of a <codeph>STRING</codeph> value. By default, removes only spaces. If a
          non-<codeph>NULL</codeph> optional second argument is specified, the function removes
          all occurrences of characters in that second argument from the beginning and end of
          the string.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/added_in_230"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/example_blurb"/>

          <p>
            The following examples show the default <codeph>BTRIM()</codeph> behavior, and what
            changes when you specify the optional second argument. All the examples bracket the
            output value with <codeph>[ ]</codeph> so that you can see any leading or trailing
            spaces in the <codeph>BTRIM()</codeph> result. By default, the function removes and
            number of both leading and trailing spaces. When the second argument is specified,
            any number of occurrences of any character in the second argument are removed from
            the start and end of the input string; in this case, spaces are not removed (unless
            they are part of the second argument) and any instances of the characters are not
            removed if they do not come right at the beginning or end of the string.
          </p>
<codeblock>-- Remove multiple spaces before and one space after.
select concat('[',btrim('    hello '),']');
+---------------------------------------+
| concat('[', btrim('    hello '), ']') |
+---------------------------------------+
| [hello]                               |
+---------------------------------------+

-- Remove any instances of x or y or z at beginning or end. Leave spaces alone.
select concat('[',btrim('xy    hello zyzzxx','xyz'),']');
+------------------------------------------------------+
| concat('[', btrim('xy    hello zyzzxx', 'xyz'), ']') |
+------------------------------------------------------+
| [    hello ]                                         |
+------------------------------------------------------+

-- Remove any instances of x or y or z at beginning or end.
-- Leave x, y, z alone in the middle of the string.
select concat('[',btrim('xyhelxyzlozyzzxx','xyz'),']');
+----------------------------------------------------+
| concat('[', btrim('xyhelxyzlozyzzxx', 'xyz'), ']') |
+----------------------------------------------------+
| [helxyzlo]                                         |
+----------------------------------------------------+
</codeblock>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="bytes">
        <dt>BYTES</dt>
        <dd><b>Purpose:</b> Returns the number of bytes contained in the specified byte string. <p>
            <b>Syntax:</b> BYTES (<i>byte_expression</i>)</p><p>Where:</p><p><i>byte_expression</i>
            is the byte string for which the number of bytes is to be returned.</p><p
            conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/usage_notes_blurb"/><p>The BYTES function is
            similar to the LENGTH() function except that it always returns the number of bytes
            regardless of the status of UTF-8 mode whether it is turned ON or OFF.</p><p>The
            following is the list of supported string data types to be used in
              <i>byte_expression</i>:</p><ul>
            <li>STRING</li>
            <li>VARCHAR</li>
            <li>CHAR</li>
          </ul><note>The BYTES (<i>byte_expression</i>) function counts the trailing zeros because
            trailing zero bytes are considered bytes. In the case of a fixed <i>length</i> column,
            the length of the value is always equal to the length defined for the column whereas the
            length of the value in a <i>variable</i> length column is always equal to the number of
            bytes, including any trailing zero bytes, contained in that value.</note><p
            conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/example_blurb"/><p>The following example
            obtains the number of bytes from “cloudera” by applying the BYTES function to the column
            “cloudera”, which is type
            VARCHAR.</p><codeblock>SELECT bytes(cast('cloudera' as varchar(20))) FROM xyz;
            +----------------------------------------+
            | bytes(cast('cloudera' as varchar(20))) |
            +----------------------------------------+
            | 8                                      |
            +----------------------------------------+
          </codeblock><note>Use the TRIM function on the <i>byte_expression</i> to
            exclude the trailing blanks included in the byte count for a data value.</note>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry rev="1.3.0" id="char_length">

        <dt>
          CHAR_LENGTH(STRING a), CHARACTER_LENGTH(STRING a)
        </dt>

        <dd rev="IMPALA-6391 IMPALA-2172">
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the length in characters of the argument string, including any
          trailing spaces that pad a <codeph>CHAR</codeph> value.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>INT</codeph>
          </p>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/usage_notes_blurb"/>

          <p>
            When applied to a <codeph>STRING</codeph> value, it returns the same result as the
            <codeph>length()</codeph> function. When applied to a <codeph>CHAR</codeph> value,
            it might return a larger value than <codeph>length()</codeph> does, to account for
            trailing spaces in the <codeph>CHAR</codeph>.
          </p>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/example_blurb"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/length_demo"/>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry rev="2.3.0" id="chr">

        <dt>
          CHR(INT character_code)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns a character specified by a decimal code point value. The
          interpretation and display of the resulting character depends on your system locale.
          Because consistent processing of Impala string values is only guaranteed for values
          within the ASCII range, only use this function for values corresponding to ASCII
          characters. In particular, parameter values greater than 255 return an empty string.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>

          <p>
            <b>Usage notes:</b> Can be used as the inverse of the <codeph>ascii()</codeph>
            function, which converts a character to its numeric ASCII code.
          </p>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/added_in_230"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/example_blurb"/>
<codeblock>SELECT chr(65);
+---------+
| chr(65) |
+---------+
| A       |
+---------+

SELECT chr(97);
+---------+
| chr(97) |
+---------+
| a       |
+---------+
</codeblock>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="concat">

        <dt>
          CONCAT(STRING a, STRING b...)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns a single string representing all the argument values joined
          together. If any argument is <codeph>NULL</codeph>, it returns <codeph>NULL</codeph>.
          <p/>

          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/concat_blurb"/>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="concat_ws">

        <dt>
          CONCAT_WS(STRING sep, STRING a, STRING b...)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns a single string representing the second and following argument
          values joined together, delimited by a specified separator.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/concat_blurb"/>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="find_in_set">

        <dt>
          FIND_IN_SET(STRING str, STRING strList)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the position (starting from 1) of the first occurrence of a
          specified string within a comma-separated string. Returns <codeph>NULL</codeph> if
          either argument is <codeph>NULL</codeph>, 0 if the search string is not found, or 0 if
          the search string contains a comma.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>INT</codeph>
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry rev="1.2" id="group_concat">

        <dt>
          GROUP_CONCAT(STRING s [, STRING sep])
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns a single string representing the argument value concatenated
          together for each row of the result set. If the optional separator string is
          specified, the separator is added between each pair of concatenated values.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/concat_blurb"/>

          <p>
            By default, returns a single string covering the whole result set. To include other
            columns or values in the result set, or to produce multiple concatenated strings for
            subsets of rows, include a <codeph>GROUP BY</codeph> clause in the query.
          </p>

          <p>
            Strictly speaking, <codeph>GROUP_CONCAT()</codeph> is an aggregate function, not a
            scalar function like the others in this list. For additional details and examples,
            see <xref
              href="impala_group_concat.xml#group_concat"/>.
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry rev="1.2" id="initcap">

        <dt>
          INITCAP(STRING str)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the input string with the first letter of each word
          capitalized and all other letters in lowercase.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>

          <p>
            <b>Example: </b>
          </p>

          <p>
            <codeph>INITCAP("i gOt mY ChiCkeNs in tHe yard.")</codeph> returns <codeph>" I Got
            My Chickens In The Yard."</codeph>.
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="instr">

        <dt>
          INSTR(STRING str, STRING substr <ph rev="IMPALA-3973">[, BIGINT position [, BIGINT
          occurrence ] ]</ph>)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the position (starting from 1) of the first
          occurrence of a <varname>substr</varname> within a longer string. <p>
            <b>Return type:</b>
            <codeph>INT</codeph>
          </p>
          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/usage_notes_blurb"/>
          <p> If the <varname>substr</varname> is not present in
              <varname>str</varname>, the function returns 0. </p>
          <p rev="IMPALA-3973 2.8.0"> The optional third and fourth arguments
            let you find instances of the <varname>substr</varname> other than
            the first instance starting from the left. </p>
          <ul>
            <li> The third argument, <varname>position</varname>, lets you
              specify a starting point within the <varname>str</varname> other
              than 1.
              <codeblock>
-- Restricting the search to positions 7..end,
-- the first occurrence of 'b' is at position 9.
select instr('foo bar bletch', 'b', 7);
+---------------------------------+
| instr('foo bar bletch', 'b', 7) |
+---------------------------------+
| 9                               |
+---------------------------------+
</codeblock>
            </li>
            <li> If there are no more occurrences after the specified position,
              the result is 0. </li>
            <li> If <varname>position</varname> is negative, the search works
              right-to-left starting that many characters from the right. The
              return value still represents the position starting from the left
              side of <varname>str</varname>.
              <codeblock rev="IMPALA-3973 2.8.0">
-- Scanning right to left, the first occurrence of 'o'
-- is at position 8. (8th character from the left.)
select instr('hello world','o',-1);
+-------------------------------+
| instr('hello world', 'o', -1) |
+-------------------------------+
| 8                             |
+-------------------------------+

</codeblock></li>
            <li> The fourth argument, <varname>occurrence</varname>, lets you
              specify an occurrence other than the first.
              <codeblock rev="IMPALA-3973 2.8.0">
-- 2nd occurrence of 'b' is at position 9.
select instr('foo bar bletch', 'b', 1, 2);
+------------------------------------+
| instr('foo bar bletch', 'b', 1, 2) |
+------------------------------------+
| 9                                  |
+------------------------------------+
</codeblock></li>
            <li> If <varname>occurrence</varname> is greater than the number of
              matching occurrences, the function returns 0. </li>
            <li>
              <varname>occurrence</varname> cannot be negative or zero. A
              non-positive value for this argument causes an error. </li>
            <li> If either of the optional arguments,
                <varname>position</varname> or <varname>occurrence</varname>, is
                <codeph>NULL</codeph>, the function also returns
                <codeph>NULL</codeph>.</li>
          </ul>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="jaro_distance">

        <dt>
          JARO_DISTANCE(STRING str1, STRING str2), JARO_DST(STRING str1, STRING str2)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the
          <xref
            href="https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Jaro%E2%80%93Winkler_distance.html"
            format="html" scope="external">Jaro
          distance</xref> between two input strings. The Jaro distance is a measure of
          similarity between two strings and is the complementary of
          <codeph>JARO_SIMILARITY()</codeph>, i.e. (1 - <codeph>JARO_SIMILARITY()</codeph>).
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>DOUBLE</codeph>
          </p>

          <p>
            <b>Usage notes:</b>
          </p>

          <p>
            If the two input strings are identical, the function returns 0.0.
          </p>

          <p>
            If there is no matching character between the input strings, the function returns
            1.0.
          </p>

          <p>
            If either input strings is <codeph>NULL</codeph>, the function returns
            <codeph>NULL</codeph>.
          </p>

          <p>
            If the length of either input string is bigger than 255 characters, the function
            returns an error.
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="jaro_similarity">

        <dt>
          JARO_SIMILARITY(STRING str1, STRING str2), JARO_SIM(STRING str1, STRING str2)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the
          <xref
            href="https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Jaro%E2%80%93Winkler_distance.html"
            format="html" scope="external">Jaro
          similarity</xref> of two strings. The higher the Jaro similarity for two strings is,
          the more similar the strings are.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>DOUBLE</codeph>
          </p>

          <p>
            <b>Usage notes:</b>
          </p>

          <p>
            If the two input strings are identical, the function returns 1.0.
          </p>

          <p>
            If there is no matching character between the input strings, the function returns
            0.0.
          </p>

          <p>
            If either input strings is <codeph>NULL</codeph>, the function returns
            <codeph>NULL</codeph>.
          </p>

          <p>
            If the length of either input string is bigger than 255 characters, the function
            returns an error.
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="jaro_winkler_distance">

        <dt>
          JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE(STRING str1, STRING str2[, DOUBLE scaling_factor, DOUBLE
          boost_threshold]), JW_DST(STRING str1, STRING str2[, DOUBLE scaling_factor, DOUBLE
          boost_threshold])
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the
          <xref
            href="https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Jaro%E2%80%93Winkler_distance.html"
            format="html" scope="external">Jaro-Winkler
          distance</xref> of two input strings. It is the complementary of
          <codeph>JARO_WINKLER_SIMILARITY()</codeph>, i.e. 1 -
          <codeph>JARO_WINKLER_SIMILARITY()</codeph>.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>DOUBLE</codeph>
          </p>

          <p>
            <b>Usage notes:</b>
          </p>

          <p>
            If the two input strings are identical, the function returns 0.0.
          </p>

          <p>
            If there is no matching character between the input strings, the function returns
            1.0.
          </p>

          <p>
            The function returns an error in the following cases:
            <ul>
              <li>
                The length of either input string is bigger than 255 characters.
              </li>

              <li>
                <varname>scaling_factor</varname> &lt; 0.0 or <varname>scaling_factor</varname>
                > 0.25
              </li>

              <li>
                <varname>boost_threshold</varname> &lt; 0.0 or
                <varname>boost_threshold</varname> > 1.0
              </li>
            </ul>
          </p>

          <p>
            If either input strings is <codeph>NULL</codeph>, the function returns
            <codeph>NULL</codeph>.
          </p>

          <p>
            The default <varname>scaling factor</varname> is 0.1.
          </p>

          <p>
            The prefix weight will only be applied if the Jaro-distance exceeds the optional
            <varname>boost_threshold</varname>. By default, the
            <varname>boost_threshold</varname> value is 0.7.
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="jaro_winkler_similarity">

        <dt>
          JARO_WINKLER_SIMILARITY(STRING str1, STRING str2[, DOUBLE scaling_factor, DOUBLE
          boost_threshold]), JARO_SIM(STRING str1, STRING str2[, DOUBLE scaling_factor, DOUBLE
          boost_threshold])
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the
          <xref
            href="https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Jaro%E2%80%93Winkler_distance.html"
            format="html" scope="external">Jaro-Winkler
          Similarity</xref> between two input strings. The Jaro-Winkler similarity uses a prefix
          weight, specified by <varname>scaling factor</varname>, which gives more favorable
          ratings to strings that match from the beginning for a set prefix length, up to a
          maximum of four characters.
          <p>
            Use Jaro or Jaro-Winkler functions to perform fuzzy matches on relatively short
            strings, e.g. to scrub user inputs of names against the records in the database.
          </p>

          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>DOUBLE</codeph>
          </p>

          <p>
            <b>Usage notes:</b>
          </p>

          <p>
            If the two input strings are identical, the function returns 1.0.
          </p>

          <p>
            If there is no matching character between the input strings, the function returns
            0.0.
          </p>

          <p>
            The function returns an error in the following cases:
            <ul>
              <li>
                The length of either input string is bigger than 255 characters.
              </li>

              <li>
                <varname>scaling_factor</varname> &lt; 0.0 or <varname>scaling_factor</varname>
                > 0.25
              </li>

              <li>
                <varname>boost_threshold</varname> &lt; 0.0 or
                <varname>boost_threshold</varname> > 1.0
              </li>
            </ul>
          </p>

          <p>
            If either input strings is <codeph>NULL</codeph>, the function returns
            <codeph>NULL</codeph>.
          </p>

          <p>
            The default <varname>scaling factor</varname> is 0.1.
          </p>

          <p>
            The prefix weight will only be applied if the Jaro-similarity exceeds the optional
            <varname>boost_threshold</varname>. By default, the
            <varname>boost_threshold</varname> value is 0.7.
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="left">

        <dt>
          LEFT(STRING a, INT num_chars)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          See the <codeph>STRLEFT()</codeph> function.
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="length">

        <dt>
          LENGTH(STRING a)
        </dt>

        <dd rev="IMPALA-6391 IMPALA-2172">
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the length in characters of the argument string, ignoring any
          trailing spaces in <codeph>CHAR</codeph> values.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>INT</codeph>
          </p>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/usage_notes_blurb"/>

          <p>
            When applied to a <codeph>STRING</codeph> value, it returns the same result as the
            <codeph>CHAR_LENGTH()</codeph> function. When applied to a <codeph>CHAR</codeph>
            value, it might return a smaller value than <codeph>CHAR_LENGTH()</codeph> does,
            because <codeph>LENGTH()</codeph> ignores any trailing spaces in the
            <codeph>CHAR</codeph>.
          </p>

          <note>
            Because the behavior of <codeph>LENGTH()</codeph> with <codeph>CHAR</codeph> values
            containing trailing spaces is not standardized across the industry, when porting
            code from other database systems, evaluate the behavior of <codeph>LENGTH()</codeph>
            on the source system and switch to <codeph>CHAR_LENGTH()</codeph> for Impala if
            necessary.
          </note>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/example_blurb"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/length_demo"/>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>
    </dl>

    <dl>
      <dlentry id="levenshtein" rev="3.2">

        <dt>
          LEVENSHTEIN(STRING str1, STRING str2), <ph id="le_dst"
            >LE_DST(STRING
          str1, STRING str2)</ph>
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the Levenshtein distance between two input strings. The
          Levenshtein distance between two strings is the minimum number of single-character
          edits required to transform one string to other. The function indicates how different
          the input strings are.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>INT</codeph>
          </p>
          <b>Usage notes:</b>
          <p>
            If input strings are equal, the function returns 0.
          </p>

          <p>
            If either input exceeds 255 characters, the function returns an error.
          </p>

          <p>
            If either input string is <codeph>NULL</codeph>, the function returns
            <codeph>NULL</codeph>.
          </p>

          <p>
            If the length of one input string is zero, the function returns the length of the
            other string.
          </p>

          <p>
            <b>Example:</b>
          </p>

          <p>
            <codeph>LEVENSHTEIN ('welcome', 'We come')</codeph> returns 2, first change to
            replace '<codeph>w</codeph>' to '<codeph>W</codeph>', and then to replace
            '<codeph>l</codeph>' to a space character.
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>
    </dl>

    <dl>
      <dlentry id="locate">

        <dt>
          LOCATE(STRING substr, STRING str[, INT pos])
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the position (starting from 1) of the first occurrence of a
          substring within a longer string, optionally after a particular position.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>INT</codeph>
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="lower">

        <dt>
          LOWER(STRING a), <ph id="lcase">LCASE(STRING a)</ph>
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the argument string converted to all-lowercase.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/usage_notes_blurb"/>

          <p
            conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/case_insensitive_comparisons_tip"
          />
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="lpad">

        <dt>
          LPAD(STRING str, INT len, STRING pad)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns a string of a specified length, based on the first argument
          string. If the specified string is too short, it is padded on the left with a
          repeating sequence of the characters from the pad string. If the specified string is
          too long, it is truncated on the right.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="ltrim">

        <dt>
          LTRIM(STRING a [, STRING chars_to_trim])
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the argument string with all occurrences of characters
          specified by the second argument removed from the left side. Removes spaces if the
          second argument is not specified.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="parse_url">

        <dt>
          PARSE_URL(STRING urlString, STRING partToExtract [, STRING keyToExtract])
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <indexterm audience="hidden">parse_url() function</indexterm>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the portion of a URL corresponding to a specified part. The
          part argument can be <codeph>'PROTOCOL'</codeph>, <codeph>'HOST'</codeph>,
          <codeph>'PATH'</codeph>, <codeph>'REF'</codeph>, <codeph>'AUTHORITY'</codeph>,
          <codeph>'FILE'</codeph>, <codeph>'USERINFO'</codeph>, or <codeph>'QUERY'</codeph>.
          Uppercase is required for these literal values. When requesting the
          <codeph>QUERY</codeph> portion of the URL, you can optionally specify a key to
          retrieve just the associated value from the key-value pairs in the query string.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>

          <p>
            <b>Usage notes:</b> This function is important for the traditional Hadoop use case
            of interpreting web logs. For example, if the web traffic data features raw URLs not
            divided into separate table columns, you can count visitors to a particular page by
            extracting the <codeph>'PATH'</codeph> or <codeph>'FILE'</codeph> field, or analyze
            search terms by extracting the corresponding key from the <codeph>'QUERY'</codeph>
            field.
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry rev="3.0" id="regexp_escape">

        <dt>
          REGEXP_ESCAPE(STRING source)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> The <codeph>REGEXP_ESCAPE()</codeph> function returns a string escaped
          for the special character in RE2 library so that the special characters are
          interpreted literally rather than as special characters. The following special
          characters are escaped by the function:
<codeblock><![CDATA[.\+*?[^]$(){}=!<>|:-]]></codeblock>
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/regexp_re2"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/regexp_re2_warning"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/regexp_escapes"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/example_blurb"/>

          <p>
            This example shows escaping one of special characters in RE2.
          </p>
<codeblock>
+------------------------------------------------------+
| regexp_escape('Hello.world')                         |
+------------------------------------------------------+
| Hello\.world                                         |
+------------------------------------------------------+
</codeblock>
          <p>
            This example shows escaping all the special characters in RE2.
          </p>
<codeblock><![CDATA[
+------------------------------------------------------------+
| regexp_escape('a.b\\c+d*e?f[g]h$i(j)k{l}m=n!o<p>q|r:s-t')  |
+------------------------------------------------------------+
| a\.b\\c\+d\*e\?f\[g\]h\$i\(j\)k\{l\}m\=n\!o\<p\>q\|r\:s\-t |
+------------------------------------------------------------+
]]>
</codeblock>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="regexp_extract">

        <dt>
          REGEXP_EXTRACT(STRING subject, STRING pattern, INT index)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the specified () group from a string based on a regular
          expression pattern. Group 0 refers to the entire extracted string, while group 1, 2,
          and so on refers to the first, second, and so on <codeph>(...)</codeph> portion.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/regexp_re2"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/regexp_re2_warning"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/regexp_escapes"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/example_blurb"/>

          <p>
            This example shows how group 0 matches the full pattern string, including the
            portion outside any <codeph>()</codeph> group:
          </p>
<codeblock>[localhost:21000] &gt; select regexp_extract('abcdef123ghi456jkl','.*?(\\d+)',0);
+------------------------------------------------------+
| regexp_extract('abcdef123ghi456jkl', '.*?(\\d+)', 0) |
+------------------------------------------------------+
| abcdef123ghi456                                      |
+------------------------------------------------------+
Returned 1 row(s) in 0.11s</codeblock>
          <p>
            This example shows how group 1 matches just the contents inside the first
            <codeph>()</codeph> group in the pattern string:
          </p>
<codeblock>[localhost:21000] &gt; select regexp_extract('abcdef123ghi456jkl','.*?(\\d+)',1);
+------------------------------------------------------+
| regexp_extract('abcdef123ghi456jkl', '.*?(\\d+)', 1) |
+------------------------------------------------------+
| 456                                                  |
+------------------------------------------------------+
Returned 1 row(s) in 0.11s</codeblock>
          <p rev="2.0.0">
            Unlike in earlier Impala releases, the regular expression library used in Impala 2.0
            and later supports the <codeph>.*?</codeph> idiom for non-greedy matches. This
            example shows how a pattern string starting with <codeph>.*?</codeph> matches the
            shortest possible portion of the source string, returning the rightmost set of
            lowercase letters. A pattern string both starting and ending with
            <codeph>.*?</codeph> finds two potential matches of equal length, and returns the
            first one found (the leftmost set of lowercase letters).
          </p>
<codeblock>[localhost:21000] &gt; select regexp_extract('AbcdBCdefGHI','.*?([[:lower:]]+)',1);
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| regexp_extract('abcdbcdefghi', '.*?([[:lower:]]+)', 1) |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| def                                                    |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
[localhost:21000] &gt; select regexp_extract('AbcdBCdefGHI','.*?([[:lower:]]+).*?',1);
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| regexp_extract('abcdbcdefghi', '.*?([[:lower:]]+).*?', 1) |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| bcd                                                       |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
</codeblock>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry rev="2.3.0" id="regexp_like">

        <dt>
          REGEXP_LIKE(STRING source, STRING pattern[, STRING options])
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns <codeph>true</codeph> or <codeph>false</codeph> to indicate
          whether the source string contains anywhere inside it the regular expression given by
          the pattern. The optional third argument consists of letter flags that change how the
          match is performed, such as <codeph>i</codeph> for case-insensitive matching.
          <p
            conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/syntax_blurb"/>

          <p>
            The flags that you can include in the optional third argument are:
          </p>
          <ul>
            <li>
              <codeph>c</codeph>: Case-sensitive matching (the default).
            </li>

            <li>
              <codeph>i</codeph>: Case-insensitive matching. If multiple instances of
              <codeph>c</codeph> and <codeph>i</codeph> are included in the third argument, the
              last such option takes precedence.
            </li>

            <li>
              <codeph>m</codeph>: Multi-line matching. The <codeph>^</codeph> and
              <codeph>$</codeph> operators match the start or end of any line within the source
              string, not the start and end of the entire string.
            </li>

            <li>
              <codeph>n</codeph>: Newline matching. The <codeph>.</codeph> operator can match
              the newline character. A repetition operator such as <codeph>.*</codeph> can match
              a portion of the source string that spans multiple lines.
            </li>
          </ul>
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>BOOLEAN</codeph>
          </p>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/regexp_re2"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/regexp_re2_warning"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/regexp_escapes"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/example_blurb"/>

          <p>
            This example shows how <codeph>regexp_like()</codeph> can test for the existence of
            various kinds of regular expression patterns within a source string:
          </p>
<codeblock><![CDATA[
-- Matches because the 'f' appears somewhere in 'foo'.
select regexp_like('foo','f');
+-------------------------+
| regexp_like('foo', 'f') |
+-------------------------+
| true                    |
+-------------------------+

-- Does not match because the comparison is case-sensitive by default.
select regexp_like('foo','F');
+-------------------------+
| regexp_like('foo', 'f') |
+-------------------------+
| false                   |
+-------------------------+

-- The 3rd argument can change the matching logic, such as 'i' meaning case-insensitive.
select regexp_like('foo','F','i');
+------------------------------+
| regexp_like('foo', 'f', 'i') |
+------------------------------+
| true                         |
+------------------------------+

-- The familiar regular expression notations work, such as ^ and $ anchors...
select regexp_like('foo','f$');
+--------------------------+
| regexp_like('foo', 'f$') |
+--------------------------+
| false                    |
+--------------------------+

select regexp_like('foo','o$');
+--------------------------+
| regexp_like('foo', 'o$') |
+--------------------------+
| true                     |
+--------------------------+

-- ...and repetition operators such as * and +
select regexp_like('foooooobar','fo+b');
+-----------------------------------+
| regexp_like('foooooobar', 'fo+b') |
+-----------------------------------+
| true                              |
+-----------------------------------+

select regexp_like('foooooobar','fx*y*o*b');
+---------------------------------------+
| regexp_like('foooooobar', 'fx*y*o*b') |
+---------------------------------------+
| true                                  |
+---------------------------------------+
]]>
</codeblock>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="regexp_replace">

        <dt>
          REGEXP_REPLACE(STRING initial, STRING pattern, STRING replacement)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the initial argument with the regular expression pattern
          replaced by the final argument string.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/regexp_re2"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/regexp_re2_warning"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/regexp_escapes"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/example_blurb"/>

          <p>
            These examples show how you can replace parts of a string matching a pattern with
            replacement text, which can include backreferences to any <codeph>()</codeph> groups
            in the pattern string. The backreference numbers start at 1, and any
            <codeph>\</codeph> characters must be escaped as <codeph>\\</codeph>.
          </p>

          <p>
            Replace a character pattern with new text:
          </p>
<codeblock>[localhost:21000] &gt; select regexp_replace('aaabbbaaa','b+','xyz');
+------------------------------------------+
| regexp_replace('aaabbbaaa', 'b+', 'xyz') |
+------------------------------------------+
| aaaxyzaaa                                |
+------------------------------------------+
Returned 1 row(s) in 0.11s</codeblock>
          <p>
            Replace a character pattern with substitution text that includes the original
            matching text:
          </p>
<codeblock>[localhost:21000] &gt; select regexp_replace('aaabbbaaa','(b+)','&lt;\\1&gt;');
+----------------------------------------------+
| regexp_replace('aaabbbaaa', '(b+)', '&lt;\\1&gt;') |
+----------------------------------------------+
| aaa&lt;bbb&gt;aaa                                  |
+----------------------------------------------+
Returned 1 row(s) in 0.11s</codeblock>
          <p>
            Remove all characters that are not digits:
          </p>
<codeblock>[localhost:21000] &gt; select regexp_replace('123-456-789','[^[:digit:]]','');
+---------------------------------------------------+
| regexp_replace('123-456-789', '[^[:digit:]]', '') |
+---------------------------------------------------+
| 123456789                                         |
+---------------------------------------------------+
Returned 1 row(s) in 0.12s</codeblock>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="repeat">

        <dt>
          REPEAT(STRING str, INT n)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the argument string repeated a specified number of times.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="replace" rev="2.9.0 IMPALA-4729">

        <dt>
          REPLACE(STRING initial, STRING target, STRING replacement)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the initial argument with all occurrences of the target string
          replaced by the replacement string.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/usage_notes_blurb"/>

          <p>
            Because this function does not use any regular expression patterns, it is typically
            faster than <codeph>regexp_replace()</codeph> for simple string substitutions.
          </p>

          <p>
            If any argument is <codeph>NULL</codeph>, the return value is <codeph>NULL</codeph>.
          </p>

          <p>
            Matching is case-sensitive.
          </p>

          <p>
            If the replacement string contains another instance of the target string, the
            expansion is only performed once, instead of applying again to the newly constructed
            string.
          </p>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/added_in_290"/>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/example_blurb"/>
<codeblock>-- Replace one string with another.
select replace('hello world','world','earth');
+------------------------------------------+
| replace('hello world', 'world', 'earth') |
+------------------------------------------+
| hello earth                              |
+------------------------------------------+

-- All occurrences of the target string are replaced.
select replace('hello world','o','0');
+----------------------------------+
| replace('hello world', 'o', '0') |
+----------------------------------+
| hell0 w0rld                      |
+----------------------------------+

-- If no match is found, the original string is returned unchanged.
select replace('hello world','xyz','abc');
+--------------------------------------+
| replace('hello world', 'xyz', 'abc') |
+--------------------------------------+
| hello world                          |
+--------------------------------------+
</codeblock>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="reverse">

        <dt>
          REVERSE(STRING a)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the argument string with characters in reversed order.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="right">

        <dt>
          RIGHT(STRING a, INT num_chars)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          See the <codeph>STRRIGHT()</codeph> function.
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="rpad">

        <dt>
          RPAD(STRING str, INT len, STRING pad)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns a string of a specified length, based on the first argument
          string. If the specified string is too short, it is padded on the right with a
          repeating sequence of the characters from the pad string. If the specified string is
          too long, it is truncated on the right.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="rtrim">

        <dt>
          RTRIM(STRING a [, STRING chars_to_trim])
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the argument string with all occurrences of characters
          specified by the second argument removed from the right side. Removes spaces if the
          second argument is not specified.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="space">

        <dt>
          SPACE(INT n)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns a concatenated string of the specified number of spaces.
          Shorthand for <codeph>REPEAT(' ',<varname>n</varname>)</codeph>.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry rev="2.3.0 IMPALA-2084" id="split_part">

        <dt>
          SPLIT_PART(STRING source, STRING delimiter, BIGINT index)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the requested <codeph>index</codeph>th part of the input
          <varname>source</varname> string split by the <varname>delimiter</varname>.
          <ul>
            <li>
              If <varname>index</varname> is a positive number, returns the
              <varname>index</varname>th part from the left within the <varname>source</varname>
              string.
            </li>

            <li>
              If <varname>index</varname> is a negative number, returns the
              <varname>index</varname>th part from the right within the
              <varname>source</varname> string.
            </li>

            <li>
              If <varname>index</varname> is 0, returns an error.
            </li>
          </ul>
          <p>
            The <varname>delimiter</varname> can consist of multiple characters, not just a
            single character.
          </p>

          <p>
            All matching of the delimiter is done exactly, not using any regular expression
            patterns.
          </p>

          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/example_blurb"
              />

          <p>
            <codeph>SPLIT_PART('x,y,z',',',2)</codeph> returns <codeph>'y'</codeph>.
          </p>

          <p>
            <codeph>SPLIT_PART('one***two***three','***',2)</codeph> returns
            <codeph>'two'</codeph>.
          </p>

          <p>
            <codeph>SPLIT_PART('abc@@def@@ghi', '@@', 3)</codeph> returns
            <codeph>'ghi'</codeph>.
          </p>

          <p>
            <codeph>SPLIT_PART('abc@@def@@ghi', '@@', -3)</codeph> returns
            <codeph>'abc'</codeph>.
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="strleft">

        <dt>
          STRLEFT(STRING a, INT num_chars)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the leftmost characters of the string. Shorthand for a call to
          <codeph>SUBSTR()</codeph> with 2 arguments.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="strright">

        <dt>
          STRRIGHT(STRING a, INT num_chars)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the rightmost characters of the string. Shorthand for a call
          to <codeph>SUBSTR()</codeph> with 2 arguments.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="substr">

        <dt>
          SUBSTR(STRING a, INT start [, INT len]),
          <ph id="substring"
            >SUBSTRING(STRING a, INT start [, INT len])</ph>
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the portion of the string starting at a specified point,
          optionally with a specified maximum length. The characters in the string are indexed
          starting at 1.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="translate">

        <dt>
          TRANSLATE(STRING input, STRING from, STRING to)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the <codeph>input</codeph> string with each character in the
          <codeph>from</codeph> argument replaced with the corresponding character in the
          <codeph>to</codeph> argument. The characters are matched in the order they appear in
          <codeph>from</codeph> and <codeph>to</codeph>.
          <p>
            For example: <codeph>translate ('hello world','world','earth')</codeph> returns
            <codeph>'hetta earth'</codeph>.
          </p>

          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>

          <p>
            <b>Usage notes:</b>
          </p>

          <p>
            If <codeph>from</codeph> contains more characters than <codeph>to</codeph>, the
            <codeph>from</codeph> characters that are beyond the length of <codeph>to</codeph>
            are removed in the result.
          </p>

          <p>
            For example:
          </p>

          <p>
            <codeph>translate('abcdedg', 'bcd', '1')</codeph> returns <codeph>'a1eg'</codeph>.
          </p>

          <p>
            <codeph>translate('Unit Number#2', '# ', '_')</codeph> returns
            <codeph>'UnitNumber_2'</codeph>.
          </p>

          <p>
            If <codeph>from</codeph> is <codeph>NULL</codeph>, the function returns
            <codeph>NULL</codeph>.
          </p>

          <p>
            If <codeph>to</codeph> contains more characters than <codeph>from</codeph>, the
            extra characters in <codeph>to</codeph> are ignored.
          </p>

          <p>
            If <codeph>from</codeph> contains duplicate characters, the duplicate character is
            replaced with the first matching character in <codeph>to</codeph>.
          </p>

          <p>
            For example: <codeph>translate ('hello','ll','67')</codeph> returns
            <codeph>'he66o'</codeph>.
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="trim">

        <dt>
          TRIM(STRING a)
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the input string with both leading and trailing spaces
          removed. The same as passing the string through both <codeph>LTRIM()</codeph> and
          <codeph>RTRIM()</codeph>.
          <p>
            <b>Usage notes:</b> Often used during data cleansing operations during the ETL
            cycle, if input values might still have surrounding spaces. For a more
            general-purpose function that can remove other leading and trailing characters
            besides spaces, see <codeph>BTRIM()</codeph>.
          </p>

          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>
        </dd>

      </dlentry>

      <dlentry id="upper">

        <dt>
          UPPER(STRING a), <ph id="ucase">UCASE(STRING a)</ph>
        </dt>

        <dd>
          <b>Purpose:</b> Returns the argument string converted to all-uppercase.
          <p>
            <b>Return type:</b> <codeph>STRING</codeph>
          </p>

          <p conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/usage_notes_blurb"/>

          <p
            conref="../shared/impala_common.xml#common/case_insensitive_comparisons_tip"
          />
        </dd>

      </dlentry>
    </dl>

  </conbody>

</concept>