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Encode binary data into a SQL expression of type TEXT.

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Syntax

ENCODE(<expression>, <format>)

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Parameters

ParameterDescriptionSupported input types
<expression>A SQL expression of type BYTEABYTEA
<format>Format to use to encode binary dataHEX, ESCAPE, BASE64 (case insensitive)
The HEX format represents each 4 bits of data as one hexadecimal digit, 0 through f, writing the higher-order digit of each byte first. The ENCODE function outputs the a-f hex digits in lower case. Because the smallest unit of data is 8 bits, there are always an even number of characters returned by ENCODE. The ESCAPE format converts zero bytes and bytes with the high bit set into octal escape sequences (\nnn) and doubles backslashes. Other byte values are represented literally. THE BASE64 format, per RFC 2045 Section 6.8, breaks encoded lines at 76 characters using a newline for end of line.

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Return Type

TEXT

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Example

The following examples encode binary expressions to the ESCAPE, HEX, and BASE64 format: 
SELECT
	ENCODE('123\000456'::BYTEA, 'ESCAPE');
Returns: 123\000456 
SELECT
	ENCODE('123\000456'::BYTEA, 'HEX');
Returns: 31323300343536 
SELECT
	ENCODE('123\000456'::BYTEA, 'BASE64');
Returns: MTIzADQ1Ng==