Knowledge Base

FIX: Datalength Function Returns 0 for NULL Text Columns

Article ID: 165599

Article Last Modified on 10/3/2003

Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q165599

BUG #: 16397 (WINDOWS: 6.5)

SYMPTOMS

Select datalength(textcol) from t1 returns 0 if the parameter is a text column that contains NULL.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, convert the NULL text column to varchar, and use the result as the parameter for the datalength function, as shown in the following example:

   select datalength(convert(varchar(255),textcol)) from t1

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft SQL Server version 6.5. This problem has been corrected in U.S. Service Pack 3 for Microsoft SQL Server version 6.5. For more information, contact your primary support provider.

Keywords: kbbug kbfix KB165599