LENGTH returns an unscaled REAL FIXED BINARY value specifying the
current length of x.
>>-LENGTH(x)---------------------------------------------------><
- x
- String-expression or an OFFSET reference with the LOCATES attribute and an explicit AREA reference. If x is binary, it is converted to bit string; otherwise, any other conversion required is to character string.
For an example of the LENGTH built-in function, refer to MAXLENGTH.
The BIFPREC compiler option determines the precision of the result returned.
When applied to an OFFSET reference with the LOCATES
attribute and implicit AREA qualification:
- If the OFFSET reference is not null, LENGTH returns the address of the located data.
- If the OFFSET reference is null, LENGTH returns SYSNULL.