The HEX function returns a hexadecimal representation of a value.
The result of the function is a character string. If the argument can be null, the result can be null; if the argument is null, the result is the null value.
The result is a string of hexadecimal digits, the first two digits represent the first byte of the argument, the next two digits represent the second byte of the argument, and so forth. If the argument is a datetime value, the result is the hexadecimal representation of the internal form of the argument.1
If the argument is not a graphic string,
the actual length of the result is twice the length of the argument.
If the argument is a graphic string, the actual length of the result
is four times the length of the argument. If the data type of the
result is varying length, the length is limited to the maximum length
of the data type. The length of the argument is the value that would
be returned if the argument were passed to the LENGTH scalar function.
For more information, see LENGTH.
The data type and length attribute of the result depends on the attributes of the argument:
CHAR
, the result
is
CHAR
with a length attribute that is four
times the length attribute of the argument. For more information about
the product-specific maximum length, see Table 3.
If the argument is a character or binary string,
the length attribute of the result is the minimum of twice the length
attribute of the argument and the maximum length of the data type.
If the argument is a graphic string, the length
attribute of the result is the minimum of four times the length attribute
of the argument and the maximum length of the data type.
The length attribute of the result cannot be greater than the product-specific length attribute of CHAR or VARCHAR. See Table 3 for more information.
The CCSID of the string is the default SBCS CCSID at the current server.
SELECT FIRSTNME, MIDINIT, LASTNAME, HEX(EDLEVEL) FROM EMPLOYEE