UUID Operations

The UUID type represents 128-bit unique identifiers.

UUID literals

UUID literals are specified with UUID 'string-literal', where the string literal must have an appropriate shape for a UUID, composed of hex digits grouped in 8-4-4-4-12. An example is: UUID '123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426655440000'.

UUID value operations

UUID values can be cast to strings (VARCHAR or CHAR), producing a string with a representation similar to the one of UUID literals described above.

CHAR or VARCHAR values can be cast to UUID values. The cast will succeed if the string is a legal UUID literal; otherwise a runtime error will occur. The cast also accepts the standard alternative UUID string formats: non-hyphenated hex digits (123e4567e89b12d3a456426655440000), the braced form ({123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426655440000}), and the URN form (urn:uuid:123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426655440000).

UUID values can be cast to BINARY or VARBINARY values, and will produce a 16 byte result.

Conversely, BINARY and VARBINARY values that have at least 16 bytes can be cast to UUID values; the cast uses the first 16 bytes. Casting a value with fewer than 16 bytes causes a runtime error.

UUID values can be cast to VARIANT; VARIANT values can be cast to UUID.