Difference Between LEN and DATALENGTH Functions in SQL Server

Difference Between LEN and DATALENGTH Functions in SQL Server

LEN:- It shows actual Length of Declared Variable not as it’s Capacity.

Explanation:-

Char(50),Here we declare on Char variable with 50 character capacity .

But we assigned ‘Rahul’ only 5 character.

This Actual Length is called Len of a Variable.

DATALENGTH:- But DATALENGTH  shows the capacity of a Variable.

Char(50) here 50 is the capacity of char Variable.

DECLARE @str CHAR(50)

SET @str='Rahul'

SELECT LEN(@str) AS LenCount

SELECT DATALENGTH(@str) AS DataLengthCount