SQL LENGTH

Returns the number of characters in a string — including any leading, trailing, or internal whitespace, which is exactly why it's a useful diagnostic tool.

What & Why

LENGTH(text) returns a character count. It counts everything — spaces included — which makes it a genuinely useful way to spot whitespace problems that aren't visible just by looking at a value.

See How It Works

BUSINESS QUESTION

Marketing wants campaign-name lengths so unusually short or long labels can be reviewed.

id	name	channel	spend	start_date	end_date	status	target_segment
1	Spring Launch	google_ads	55000.00	2024-01-15	2024-03-31	active	smb
2	Retention Webinar	email	45000.00	2024-02-10	2024-04-15	active	enterprise
3	Finance Retargeting	linkedin	50000.00	2024-03-12	2024-05-31	active	enterprise
4	Enterprise Search	google_ads	60000.00	2024-04-01	2024-06-30	active	enterprise

EXAMPLE QUERY

SELECT
  id AS campaign_id,
  name,
  LENGTH(name) AS name_length
FROM marketing.campaigns
ORDER BY name_length DESC, campaign_id;

RESULT — exact output from the displayed Queryflo rows

campaign_id	name	name_length
3	Finance Retargeting	19
2	Retention Webinar	17
4	Enterprise Search	17
1	Spring Launch	13

The displayed lengths are calculated from the exact campaign names.

Intermediate business practice