---
id: length
title: length Search Operator
sidebar_label: length
description: Use the length operator to return the number of characters in a string field.Works only on string fields and returns 0 for null strings.
slug: /help/docs/search/search-query-language/search-operators/length/
canonical: https://www.sumologic.com/help/docs/search/search-query-language/search-operators/length/
---

The `length` operator returns the number of characters in a string. You can use it in where clauses or to create new fields.

For example, you'd use the Length operator in free text fields where content is arbitrary to find cases where the field has a substantial amount of text using **length() > minimum** in a query. Or in a case where a long length would be abnormal, you can find these strings quickly using **length() > 10000** in a query.

## Syntax

`length(<field>) [as <field>]`

## Rules

* If the string is null, it returns 0.
* The length operator only works on string fields.

## Examples

### Find only short queries

Use the following query to find queries under 20 characters.

```sumo
_sourceCategory=apache error
| parse "query: *," as query
| where length(query) <= 20
```

### Count by the length of the query

Use this query to count results by the length of the query.

```sumo
_sourceCategory=apache error
| parse "query: *," as query
| length(query) as query_length
| count by query_length
| sort by _count desc
```