Built-In Functions

There are various types of built-in functions including but not limited to system functions, string, text, and image functions, aggregate functions, and mathematical and date functions. The rules governing how you use these function types can differ.

See the Reference Manual:Building Blocks and, for XML functions, XML Services.

• System Functions
  System functions return information about the database. Many provide a shorthand way to query the system tables.
• String Functions
  String functions perform various operations on character strings, expressions, and sometimes on binary data.
• Text and Image Functions
  Text functions perform operations on text, image, and unitext data. Use the set textsize option to limit the amount of text, image, and unitext data that is retrieved by a select statement.
• Aggregate Functions
  Aggregate functions generate summary values that appear as new columns in the query results. They can be used in a select list or the having clause of a select statement or subquery.
• Statistical Aggregate Functions
  Statistical aggregate functions enable you to perform statistical analysis on numeric data.
• Mathematical Functions
  Mathematical functions return values that are commonly needed for operations on mathematical data.
• Date Functions
  The date functions perform arithmetic operations and display information about datetime, bigtime, bigdatetime, smalldatetime, date, and time values. You can use them in the select list or the where clause of your query.
• Datatype Conversion Functions
  Datatype conversions change an expression from one datatype to another, and reformat the display format for date and time information.
• Security Functions
  The security functions return information about security services and user-defined roles.
• XML Functions
  The XML functions let you manage XML in the SAP ASE database.