char_length() no longer seems to be working for me (at least with my current build). For example, create a simple test table and populate it with some values: CREATE TABLE test ( f1 character(4) NOT NULL, f2 varchar(20), PRIMARY KEY (f1) ); INSERT INTO test VALUES ('a', 'field a'); INSERT INTO test VALUES ('b', 'field b'); INSERT INTO test VALUES ('cc', 'field c'); INSERT INTO test VALUES ('dd', 'field d'); INSERT INTO test VALUES ('eee', 'field e'); INSERT INTO test VALUES ('fff', 'field f'); INSERT INTO test VALUES ('gggg', 'field g'); INSERT INTO test VALUES ('hhhh', 'field h'); Now use the selection: SELECT * FROM test WHERE char_length(f1) = 2; No results are returned. If the selection: SELECT * FROM test WHERE char_length(f1) = 4; is used, *all rows* are returned. Has the definition of char_length been changed since 6.5.x? Is there some other function to take its place? Thanks... -frank