TO_MULTI_BYTE

Purpose

The CONVERT function converts all single-byte characters to their corresponding multibyte characters. This function is effective only if your database character set includes both single-byte and multibyte characters.

Syntax

TO_MULTI_BYTE(char)

Parameters

char can be of data types CHAR, VARCHAR2, NCHAR, or NVARCHAR2. Single-byte characters in the char parameter that do not have a multibyte equivalent will be displayed as single-byte characters in the output string.

Return type

The return value has the same data type as char.

Examples

• Convert the single-byte B to multibyte B in UTF-8.

  obclient> SELECT dump(TO_MULTI_BYTE( 'B')) FROM DUAL;
  +---------------------------+
  | DUMP(TO_MULTI_BYTE('B'))  |
  +---------------------------+
  | Typ=22 Len=3: 239,188,162 |
  +---------------------------+
  1 row in set
  

• Converts halfwidth characters in the string to fullwidth characters.

  obclient> SELECT TO_MULTI_BYTE('China A') text FROM DUAL;
  +-----------+
  | TEXT      |
  +-----------+
  | China A |
  +-----------+
  1 row in set