In MariaDB, SYS_GUID() is a built-in function that returns a 16-byte globally unique identifier (GUID).

This function was introduced in MariaDB 10.6.1 to enhance Oracle compatibility.

Syntax

The syntax goes like this:

SYS_GUID()

So, no arguments are required (or accepted).

Example

Here’s an example to demonstrate:

SELECT SYS_GUID();

Result:

+----------------------------------+
| SYS_GUID()                       |
+----------------------------------+
| FADA81BECD6E11EB8F750800270503A7 |
+----------------------------------+

If I call it another time, I get a different value:

SELECT SYS_GUID();

Result:

+----------------------------------+
| SYS_GUID()                       |
+----------------------------------+
| 0BE2DEE4CD6F11EB8F750800270503A7 |
+----------------------------------+

Compared to the UUID() Function

The result returned by SYS_GUID() is similar to the one returned by the UUID() function, except that SYS_GUID() doesn’t include the hyphen symbol (-) in the result (whereas, UUID() does).

Here’s a comparison of the two:

SELECT 
    UUID(),
    SYS_GUID();

Result:

+--------------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| UUID()                               | SYS_GUID()                       |
+--------------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| 9e795ffc-cd71-11eb-8f75-0800270503a7 | 9E796001CD7111EB8F750800270503A7 |
+--------------------------------------+----------------------------------+

There’s also a UUID_SHORT() function that returns a short UUID as a 64-bit unsigned integer.

No Arguments

As mentioned, SYS_GUID() doesn’t accept any arguments. Here’s what happens when I pass an argument:

SELECT SYS_GUID(3);

Result:

ERROR 1582 (42000): Incorrect parameter count in the call to native function 'SYS_GUID'