HEX_DECODE()

All functions > STRING > HEX_DECODE()

Decodes a contiguous hexadecimal string back to plain text.

Signatures

Returns: Decoded string

HEX_DECODE(hex_digits: VARCHAR) → VARCHAR

Notes

• Requires an even number of hex digits; malformed input fails at run time
• Interprets decoded bytes as text (invalid byte sequences fail at run time)
• Returns NULL if the input is NULL (use NULL(VARCHAR); bare NULL fails inference)
• Inverse of HEX_ENCODE for valid round-trip payloads

See also

• String functions

Examples

SELECT
    f1 := HEX_DECODE('68656c6c6f'), -- Lowercase hex digits
    f2 := HEX_DECODE(''), -- Empty hex decodes to empty string
    f3 := HEX_DECODE(NULL(VARCHAR)) -- NULL yields NULL
;