Summary: in this tutorial, you will learn how to use the MySQL BIN()
function to return a string that represents the binary value of a number.
Introduction to the MySQL BIN() function
The BIN()
function allows you to return a binary value of a number.
Here’s the basic syntax of the BIN()
function:
BIN(n)
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
In this syntax, n
is a BIGINT
number. If n
is NULL
, the BIN()
function returns NULL
.
The BIN(n)
is equivalent to CONV(n, 10, 2)
.
MySQL BIN() function examples
Let’s take some examples of using the BIN()
function.
1) Simple BIN() function example
The following example uses the BIN()
function to return a string that represents the binary value of the number 3:
SELECT BIN(3);
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
Output:
+--------+
| BIN(3) |
+--------+
| 11 |
+--------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
2) Using the BIN() function with table data
First, create a new table called permissions
that has two columns id
and flags
:
CREATE TABLE permissions(
id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
flags INT NOT NULL
);
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
Second, insert some rows into the permissions
table:
INSERT INTO permissions(flags)
VALUES
(3),
(5),
(7);
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
Third, use the BIN()
function to query and represent the values in the flags
column in binary form:
SELECT
id,
flags,
BIN(flags)
FROM
permissions;
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
Output:
+----+-------+------------+
| id | flags | BIN(flags) |
+----+-------+------------+
| 1 | 3 | 11 |
| 2 | 5 | 101 |
| 3 | 7 | 111 |
+----+-------+------------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
Summary
- Use the MySQL
BIN()
function to get a string that represents the binary value of a number.