Binary data v16

NameNativeAliasDescription
BYTEAVariable-length binary string, 1 or 4 bytes plus the actual binary string.
BINARYAlias for BYTEA. Fixed-length binary string, with a length between 1 and 8300.
BLOBAlias for BYTEA. Variable-length binary string, with a maximum size of 1 GB. The actual binary string plus 1 byte if the binary string is less than 127 bytes, or 4 bytes if the binary string is 127 bytes or greater
VARBINARYAlias for BYTEA. Variable-length binary string, with a length between 1 and 8300.

Overview

A binary string is a sequence of octets (or bytes). Binary strings are distinguished from characters strings by two characteristics:

  • Binary strings specifically allow storing octets of value zero and other "non-printable" octets (defined as octets outside the range 32 to 126).
  • Operations on binary strings process the actual bytes, whereas the encoding and processing of character strings depends on locale settings.

The BYTEA type supports two formats for input and output: “hex” format and “escape” format. Both of these are always accepted on input. The output format depends on the configuration parameter bytea_output; the default is hex.

Hex format

The hex format encodes binary data as two hexadecimal digits per byte, most significant nibble first. The entire string is preceded by the sequence \x (to distinguish it from the escape format). In some contexts, the initial backslash may need to be escaped by doubling it. For input, the hexadecimal digits can be either upper or lower case, and whitespace is permitted between digit pairs (but not within a digit pair or in the starting \x sequence). The hex format is compatible with a wide range of external applications and protocols, and it tends to be faster to convert than the escape format, so its use is preferred.

Example:

SET bytea_output = 'hex';

SELECT '\xDEADBEEF'::bytea;
   bytea
------------
 \xdeadbeef

Escape format

The “escape” format is the traditional PostgreSQL format for the bytea type. It takes the approach of representing a binary string as a sequence of ASCII characters, while converting those bytes that cannot be represented as an ASCII character into special escape sequences. If, from the point of view of the application, representing bytes as characters makes sense, then this representation can be convenient. But in practice it is usually confusing because it blurs the distinction between binary strings and character strings. Also, the escape mechanism can be unwieldy. Therefore, this format should probably be avoided for most new applications.

When entering BYTEA values in escape format, octets of certain values must be escaped, while all octet values can be escaped. In general, to escape an octet, convert it into its three-digit octal value and precede it by a backslash. A backslash itself (octet decimal value 92) can alternatively be represented by double backslashes. The following table shows the characters that must be escaped, and gives the alternative escape sequences where applicable.

Decimal octet valueDescriptionEscaped input representationExampleHex representation
0zero octet'\000''\000'::bytea\x00
39single quote'''' or '\047'''''::bytea\x27
92backslash'\\' or '\134''\\'::bytea\x5c
0 to 31 and 127 to 255“non-printable” octets'\xxx' (octal value)'\001'::bytea\x01

The requirement to escape non-printable octets varies depending on locale settings. In some instances you can leave them unescaped.

The reason that single quotes must be doubled is that this is true for any string literal in an SQL command. The generic string-literal parser consumes the outermost single quotes and reduces any pair of single quotes to one data character. What the BYTEA input function sees is just one single quote, which it treats as a plain data character. However, the BYTEA input function treats backslashes as special, and the other behaviors shown in the table are implemented by that function.

In some contexts, backslashes must be doubled compared to what is shown above, because the generic string-literal parser will also reduce pairs of backslashes to one data character.

BYTEA octets are output in hex format by default. If you change bytea_output to escape, “non-printable” octets are converted to their equivalent three-digit octal value and preceded by one backslash. Most “printable” octets are output by their standard representation in the client character set, as shown in the following example:

SET bytea_output = 'escape';

SELECT 'abc \153\154\155 \052\251\124'::bytea;
     bytea
----------------
 abc klm *\251T

The octet with decimal value 92 (backslash) is doubled in the output. The following table provides details:

Decimal octet valueDescriptionEscaped input representationExampleOutput result
92backslash\\'\134'::bytea\\
0 to 31 and 127 to 255“non-printable” octets'\xxx' (octal value)'\001'::bytea\001
32 to 126“printable” octetsclient character set representation'\176'::bytea~

Depending on the front end to PostgreSQL you use, you might have additional work in terms of escaping and unescaping BYTEA strings. For example, you might also have to escape line feeds and carriage returns if your interface automatically translates these.