# `OCTET_LENGTH`

**Applies to:** ✅ Data 360 SQL ✅ Tableau Hyper API

Returns the number of bytes in a string.

## Syntax

```sql
octet_length(<string>)
```

## Arguments

### Required

- `<string>`: The string to measure.

## Returns

Returns an integer that represents the number of bytes in the string.

## Considerations

- For UTF-8 encoded strings, multi-byte characters contribute more than one byte each.
- This function differs from `char_length`, which counts characters.

## Examples

### Calculate Byte Length

Get the byte length of a string.

```sql
SELECT octet_length('jose') AS result;
```

Returns `4` (4 ASCII characters, 1 byte each).

## Related Documentation

- [String Types](/docs/data/data-cloud-query-guide/references/dc-sql-reference/string.md)