SQL
Blob Functions
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This section describes functions and operators for examining and manipulating [`BLOB` values](#docs:sql:data_types:blob).  
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| Name | Description |
|:--|:-------|
| [`blob || blob`](#::blob--blob) | `BLOB` concatenation. |
| [`decode(blob)`](#::decodeblob) | Converts `blob` to `VARCHAR`. Fails if `blob` is not valid UTF-8. |
| [`encode(string)`](#::encodestring) | Converts the `string` to `BLOB`. Converts UTF-8 characters into literal encoding. |
| [`hex(blob)`](#::hexblob) | Converts `blob` to `VARCHAR` using hexadecimal encoding. |
| [`octet_length(blob)`](#::octet_lengthblob) | Number of bytes in `blob`. |
| [`read_blob(source)`](#::read_blobsource) | Returns the content from `source` (a filename, a list of filenames, or a glob pattern) as a `BLOB`. See the [`read_blob` guide](#docs:guides:file_formats:read_file::read_blob) for more details. |  
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