TO_MULTI_BYTE

Purpose

You can call this function to convert all single-byte characters into corresponding multi-byte characters. This function is valid only when your database character set contains both single-byte and multi-byte characters.

Syntax

TO_MULTI_BYTE(char)

Parameters

char can be CHAR, VARCHAR2, NCHAR, or NVARCHAR2. If a single-byte character in char does not have a multi-byte equivalent, the single-byte character is displayed in the output character string.

Return types

This function returns the same value type as char.

Examples

• Convert the single-byte character B to the multi-byte B in UTF8.

  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 
  

• Convert a half-width character in a string into a full-width character.

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