validate_utf8 function
Applies to: 
Databricks SQL Databricks Runtime 15.4 and above
Returns the input value if it corresponds to a valid UTF-8 string, or raises INVALID_UTF8_STRING otherwise.
Syntax
validate_utf8(strExpr)
Arguments
strExpr: ASTRINGexpression.
Returns
A STRING which is byte-wise equal to strExpr in case it represents a valid UTF-8 string, or raises INVALID_UTF8_STRING otherwise.
To return NULL if the input is not a valid UTF-8 string, use the try_validate_utf8 function.
Examples
SQL
– Simple example taking a valid string as input.
> SELECT validate_utf8('Spark')
Spark
– Simple example taking a valid collated string as input.
> SELECT validate_utf8('SQL' COLLATE UTF8_LCASE)
SQL
– Simple example taking a valid hexadecimal string as input.
> SELECT validate_utf8(x'61')
a
– Example taking an invalid hexadecimal string as input (illegal UTF-8 byte sequence).
> SELECT validate_utf8(x'80')
[INVALID_UTF8_STRING] Invalid UTF8 byte sequence found in string: \x80.