<para>
        Removes the longest string containing only characters in
        <parameter>characters</parameter> (a space by default) from the start of
        <parameter>string</parameter>.
       </para>
       <para>
        <literal>ltrim('zzzytest', 'xyz')</literal>
        <returnvalue>test</returnvalue>
       </para></entry>
      </row>

      <row>
       <entry role="func_table_entry"><para role="func_signature">
        <indexterm id="function-normalize">
         <primary>normalize</primary>
        </indexterm>
        <indexterm>
         <primary>Unicode normalization</primary>
        </indexterm>
        <function>normalize</function> ( <type>text</type>
        <optional>, <parameter>form</parameter> </optional> )
        <returnvalue>text</returnvalue>
       </para>
       <para>
        Converts the string to the specified Unicode
        normalization form.  The optional <parameter>form</parameter> key word
        specifies the form: <literal>NFC</literal> (the default),
        <literal>NFD</literal>, <literal>NFKC</literal>, or
        <literal>NFKD</literal>.  This function can only be used when the
        server encoding is <literal>UTF8</literal>.
       </para>
       <para>
        <literal>normalize(U&amp;'\0061\0308bc', NFC)</literal>
        <returnvalue>U&amp;'\00E4bc'</returnvalue>
       </para></entry>
      </row>

      <row>
       <entry role="func_table_entry"><para role="func_signature">
        <indexterm>
         <primary>octet_length</primary>
        </indexterm>
        <function>octet_length</function> ( <type>text</type> )
        <returnvalue>integer</returnvalue>
       </para>
       <para>
        Returns number of bytes in the string.
       </para>
       <para>
        <literal>octet_length('jos&eacute;')</literal>
        <returnvalue>5</returnvalue> (if server encoding is UTF8)
       </para></entry>
      </row>

      <row>
       <entry role="func_table_entry"><para role="func_signature">
        <indexterm>
         <primary>octet_length</primary>
        </indexterm>
        <function>octet_length</function> ( <type>character</type> )
        <returnvalue>integer</returnvalue>
       </para>
       <para>
        Returns number of bytes in the string.  Since this version of the
        function accepts type <type>character</type> directly, it will not
        strip trailing spaces.
       </para>
       <para>
        <literal>octet_length('abc '::character(4))</literal>
        <returnvalue>4</returnvalue>
       </para></entry>
      </row>

      <row>
       <entry role="func_table_entry"><para role="func_signature">
        <indexterm>
         <primary>overlay</primary>
        </indexterm>
        <function>overlay</function> ( <parameter>string</parameter> <type>text</type> <literal>PLACING</literal> <parameter>newsubstring</parameter> <type>text</type> <literal>FROM</literal> <parameter>start</parameter> <type>integer</type> <optional> <literal>FOR</literal> <parameter>count</parameter> <type>integer</type> </optional> )
        <returnvalue>text</returnvalue>
       </para>
       <para>
        Replaces the substring of <parameter>string</parameter> that starts at
        the <parameter>start</parameter>'th character and extends
        for <parameter>count</parameter> characters
        with <parameter>newsubstring</parameter>.
        If <parameter>count</parameter> is omitted, it defaults to the length
        of <parameter>newsubstring</parameter>.
       </para>
       <para>
        <literal>overlay('Txxxxas' placing 'hom' from 2 for 4)</literal>
        <returnvalue>Thomas</returnvalue>
       </para></entry>
      </row>

      <row>
       <entry role="func_table_entry"><para role="func_signature">
        <indexterm>
         <primary>position</primary>
        </indexterm>
        <function>position</function> ( <parameter>substring</parameter> <type>text</type> <literal>IN</literal> <parameter>string</parameter> <type>text</type> )