a binary string representing text in
       encoding <parameter>src_encoding</parameter>
       to <type>text</type> in the database encoding
       (see <xref linkend="multibyte-conversions-supported"/> for
       available conversions).
      </para>
      <para>
       <literal>convert_from('text_in_utf8', 'UTF8')</literal>
       <returnvalue>text_in_utf8</returnvalue>
      </para></entry>
     </row>

     <row>
      <entry role="func_table_entry"><para role="func_signature">
       <indexterm>
        <primary>convert_to</primary>
       </indexterm>
       <function>convert_to</function> ( <parameter>string</parameter> <type>text</type>,
       <parameter>dest_encoding</parameter> <type>name</type> )
       <returnvalue>bytea</returnvalue>
      </para>
      <para>
       Converts a <type>text</type> string (in the database encoding) to a
       binary string encoded in encoding <parameter>dest_encoding</parameter>
       (see <xref linkend="multibyte-conversions-supported"/> for
       available conversions).
      </para>
      <para>
       <literal>convert_to('some_text', 'UTF8')</literal>
       <returnvalue>\x736f6d655f74657874</returnvalue>
      </para></entry>
     </row>

     <row>
      <entry role="func_table_entry"><para role="func_signature">
       <indexterm id="function-encode">
        <primary>encode</primary>
       </indexterm>
       <function>encode</function> ( <parameter>bytes</parameter> <type>bytea</type>,
       <parameter>format</parameter> <type>text</type> )
       <returnvalue>text</returnvalue>
      </para>
      <para>
       Encodes binary data into a textual representation; supported
       <parameter>format</parameter> values are:
       <link linkend="encode-format-base64"><literal>base64</literal></link>,
       <link linkend="encode-format-escape"><literal>escape</literal></link>,
       <link linkend="encode-format-hex"><literal>hex</literal></link>.
      </para>
      <para>
       <literal>encode('123\000\001', 'base64')</literal>
       <returnvalue>MTIzAAE=</returnvalue>
      </para></entry>
     </row>

     <row>
      <entry role="func_table_entry"><para role="func_signature">
       <indexterm id="function-decode">
        <primary>decode</primary>
       </indexterm>
       <function>decode</function> ( <parameter>string</parameter> <type>text</type>,
       <parameter>format</parameter> <type>text</type> )
       <returnvalue>bytea</returnvalue>
      </para>
      <para>
       Decodes binary data from a textual representation; supported
       <parameter>format</parameter> values are the same as
       for <function>encode</function>.
      </para>
      <para>
       <literal>decode('MTIzAAE=', 'base64')</literal>
       <returnvalue>\x3132330001</returnvalue>
      </para></entry>
     </row>
    </tbody>
   </tgroup>
  </table>

  <para>
   The <function>encode</function> and <function>decode</function>
   functions support the following textual formats:

   <variablelist>
    <varlistentry id="encode-format-base64">
     <term>base64
     <indexterm>
      <primary>base64 format</primary>
     </indexterm></term>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       The <literal>base64</literal> format is that
       of <ulink url="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2045#section-6.8">RFC
       2045 Section 6.8</ulink>.  As per the <acronym>RFC</acronym>, encoded lines are
       broken at 76 characters.  However instead of the MIME CRLF
       end-of-line marker, only a newline is used for end-of-line.
       The <function>decode</function> function ignores carriage-return,
       newline, space, and tab characters.  Otherwise, an error is
       raised when <function>decode</function> is supplied invalid
       base64 data &mdash; including when trailing padding is incorrect.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>

    <varlistentry id="encode-format-escape">
     <term>escape
     <indexterm>
      <primary>escape format</primary>
     </indexterm></term>