Understanding Binary Data Handling in MariaDB: Alternatives to AsBinary

Binary Data Types

• BINARY
  This data type stores raw binary data without any character set interpretation. Comparisons and sorting are based on the numeric values of the bytes.

Binary Literals

• You can directly insert binary data into BINARY columns using literals in these formats:
  • b'value': Single quotes with a prefix b (lowercase or uppercase).
  • B'value': Similar to the above, but with a uppercase B.
  • 0bvalue: Numeric format starting with 0b, where value is a string of 0s and 1s.

Conversion Functions

• CAST
  You can convert data from other types (e.g., strings) to BINARY:

  SELECT CAST('Hello' AS BINARY);
  

HEX Function

• Convert hexadecimal strings to binary:

  SELECT HEX_TO_BINARY('414243'); -- Decodes "ABC" in hexadecimal
  

Choosing the Right Method

The most suitable approach depends on your specific use case:

• If you need to convert existing data (strings, hex) to binary, employ CAST or HEX_TO_BINARY functions.
• For direct insertion of binary literals, use the binary literal formats mentioned above.
• If you're storing raw binary data (e.g., images, files), use the BINARY data type.

CREATE TABLE my_table (
  id INT PRIMARY KEY,
  binary_data BINARY(10)
);

INSERT INTO my_table (id, binary_data) VALUES (1, b'01101000');
INSERT INTO my_table (id, binary_data) VALUES (2, HEX_TO_BINARY('42'));

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Python Script (using mysqlclient)

import mysqlclient

# Connect to your MariaDB database
db = mysqlclient.connect(host="localhost", user="your_username", password="your_password", database="my_database")
cursor = db.cursor()

# Insert binary data using a BINARY literal
binary_data = b"This is some binary data"
cursor.execute("INSERT INTO my_table (binary_data) VALUES (%s)", (binary_data,))

# Retrieve and convert binary data to a byte array using CAST
cursor.execute("SELECT CAST(binary_data AS CHAR(10)) FROM my_table")  # Adjust CHAR length as needed
result = cursor.fetchone()
retrieved_data = bytearray(result[0], encoding="latin-1")  # Assuming latin-1 encoding for byte conversion

# Process or display the retrieved binary data (retrieved_data)

db.commit()
cursor.close()
db.close()

# Create a table with a BINARY column
CREATE TABLE my_table (
  id INT PRIMARY KEY,
  binary_data BINARY(20)
);

# Insert binary data using different methods
INSERT INTO my_table (binary_data) VALUES (b'Some more data');
INSERT INTO my_table (binary_data) VALUES (CAST(' even more data!' AS BINARY));
INSERT INTO my_table (binary_data) VALUES (HEX_TO_BINARY('44617461'));  -- Inserts "Data" in hexadecimal

# Select and display binary data (won't be human-readable directly)
SELECT binary_data FROM my_table;

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1. • Use the BINARY data type to directly store raw binary data:

     CREATE TABLE my_table (
         id INT PRIMARY KEY,
         binary_data BINARY(20)  -- Specify the maximum byte size
     );
     

     • Insert binary data using literals in these formats:

       INSERT INTO my_table (binary_data) VALUES (b'This is binary data');
       INSERT INTO my_table (binary_data) VALUES (0b10101000);  -- Binary literal format
       

2. CAST Function
   

   • Convert data from other types (e.g., strings) to BINARY:

     SELECT CAST('Hello World!' AS BINARY);  -- Converts the string to binary
     

3. HEX_TO_BINARY Function
   

   • Convert hexadecimal strings to binary:

     SELECT HEX_TO_BINARY('414243');  -- Decodes "ABC" in hexadecimal
     

Choosing the Right Method

• Use CAST or HEX_TO_BINARY functions to convert existing data to binary.
• Use binary literals for direct insertion of binary data.
• Use BINARY data type for storing raw binary data (images, files).

Additional Considerations

• For large binary objects, consider using BLOB (Binary Large OBject) data types in MariaDB, which are designed for efficient storage of extensive binary data.
• Be mindful of character encoding when converting strings to binary using CAST. The chosen encoding will affect how the string characters are interpreted as bytes.
• Binary data manipulation often involves programming languages for tasks beyond basic SQL. Consider using libraries like mysqlclient in Python to interact with binary data in your application.