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  This section describes functions and operators for examining
  and manipulating values of type bytea.
  SQL defines some string
  functions with a special syntax where certain key words rather
  than commas are used to separate the arguments. Details are in
  Table
  9-8. Some functions are also implemented using the regular
  syntax for function invocation. (See Table
  9-9.)
  
    
    Table 9-8. SQL
    Binary String Functions and Operators
    
      
      
      
      
      
      
        
          | Function | Return Type | Description | Example | Result | 
      
      
        
          | string
          || string | bytea | String concatenation | E'\\\\Post'::bytea ||
          E'\\047gres\\000'::bytea | \\Post'gres\000 | 
        
          | get_bit(string, offset) | int | Extract bit from string | get_bit(E'Th\\000omas'::bytea,
          45) | 1 | 
        
          | get_byte(string, offset) | int | Extract byte from string | get_byte(E'Th\\000omas'::bytea,
          4) | 109 | 
        
          | octet_length(string) | int | Number of bytes in binary string | octet_length(E'jo\\000se'::bytea) | 5 | 
        
          | position(substring in string) | int | Location of specified substring | position(E'\\000om'::bytea in
          E'Th\\000omas'::bytea) | 3 | 
        
          | set_bit(string, offset, newvalue) | bytea | Set bit in string | set_bit(E'Th\\000omas'::bytea,
          45, 0) | Th\000omAs | 
        
          | set_byte(string, offset, newvalue) | bytea | Set byte in string | set_byte(E'Th\\000omas'::bytea,
          4, 64) | Th\000o@as | 
        
          | substring(string [from
          int] [for int]) | bytea | Extract substring | substring(E'Th\\000omas'::bytea
          from 2 for 3) | h\000o | 
        
          | trim([both] bytes
          from string) | bytea | Remove the longest string containing only the bytes
          in bytes from the start and
          end of string | trim(E'\\000'::bytea from
          E'\\000Tom\\000'::bytea) | Tom | 
      
    
   
  Additional binary string manipulation functions are available
  and are listed in Table
  9-9. Some of them are used internally to implement the
  SQL-standard string functions
  listed in Table
  9-8.
  
    
    Table 9-9. Other Binary String Functions
    
      
      
      
      
      
      
        
          | Function | Return Type | Description | Example | Result | 
      
      
        
          | btrim(string
          bytea, bytes bytea) | bytea | Remove the longest string consisting only of bytes in
          bytes from the start and end
          of string | btrim(E'\\000trim\\000'::bytea,
          E'\\000'::bytea) | trim | 
        
          | decode(string text,
          type text) | bytea | Decode binary string from string previously encoded with encode. Parameter type is
          same as inencode. | decode(E'123\\000456',
          'escape') | 123\000456 | 
        
          | encode(string bytea,
          type text) | text | Encode binary string to ASCII-only representation. Supported
          types are: base64, hex, escape. | encode(E'123\\000456'::bytea,
          'escape') | 123\000456 | 
        
          | length(string) | int | Length of binary string | length(E'jo\\000se'::bytea) | 5 | 
        
          | md5(string) | text | Calculates the MD5 hash of string, returning the result in
          hexadecimal | md5(E'Th\\000omas'::bytea) | 8ab2d3c9689aaf18
          b4958c334c82d8b1 |