-- variable table DROP TABLE IF EXISTS var; CREATE temp TABLE var ( VALUE VARCHAR(1000) ); INSERT INTO var(VALUE) SELECT '1A2B3C4D5E6F'; -- select WITH recursive ints(num) AS ( SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT num+1 FROM ints WHERE num+1 <= LENGTH((SELECT VALUE FROM var)) ) , chars(num,chr,nextChr) AS ( SELECT tmp.* FROM ( SELECT num, SUBSTRING((SELECT VALUE FROM var), num, 1) chr, (SELECT SUBSTRING((SELECT VALUE FROM var), num+1, 1)) nextChr FROM ints ) tmp ) , charsWithGroup(num,chr,nextChr,group_no) AS ( SELECT *,(SELECT COUNT(*) FROM chars chars2 WHERE chars2.chr !~ '[0-9]' AND chars2.num < chars.num) group_No FROM chars ) , charsWithGroupAndLetter(num,chr,nextChr,group_no,group_letter) AS ( SELECT *,(SELECT chr FROM charsWithGroup g2 where g2.group_no = charsWithGroup.group_no ORDER BY num DESC LIMIT 1) FROM charsWithGroup ) , lettersWithCount(group_no,amount,group_letter) AS ( SELECT group_no, string_agg(chr, '' ORDER BY num), group_letter FROM charsWithGroupAndLetter WHERE chr ~ '[0-9]' GROUP BY group_no, group_letter ) , lettersReplicated(group_no,amount,group_letter, replicated_Letter) AS ( SELECT *, rpad(group_letter, cast(amount as int), group_letter) FROM lettersWithCount ) select (SELECT value FROM var) rle_encoded, string_agg(replicated_Letter, '' ORDER BY group_no) decoded_string FROM lettersReplicated