diff --git a/datatypes/mcs_datatype.cpp b/datatypes/mcs_datatype.cpp
index d8bc951c3..efcc5f4f4 100644
--- a/datatypes/mcs_datatype.cpp
+++ b/datatypes/mcs_datatype.cpp
@@ -524,7 +524,7 @@ int TypeHandlerStr::storeValueToFieldCharVarchar(rowgroup::Row &row, int pos,
       return f->store_string(tmp, strlen(tmp));
     }
     default:
-      return f->store_string((const char*)row.getStringPointer(pos), row.getStringLength(pos));
+      return f->storeConstString(row.getConstString(pos));
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/datatypes/mcs_datatype.h b/datatypes/mcs_datatype.h
index fd47bc66a..c257e9b11 100644
--- a/datatypes/mcs_datatype.h
+++ b/datatypes/mcs_datatype.h
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 #include <sstream>
 #include <boost/any.hpp>
 #include "exceptclasses.h"
+#include "conststring.h"
 #include "mcs_numeric_limits.h"
 #include "mcs_data_condition.h"
 #include "mcs_decimal.h"
@@ -909,6 +910,11 @@ public:
   virtual int store_decimal64(const datatypes::Decimal& dec) = 0;
   virtual int store_decimal128(const datatypes::Decimal& dec) = 0;
   virtual int store_lob(const char *str, size_t length) = 0;
+
+  int storeConstString(const utils::ConstString &str)
+  {
+      return store_string(str.str(), str.length());
+  }
 };
 
 
diff --git a/dbcon/execplan/aggregatecolumn.cpp b/dbcon/execplan/aggregatecolumn.cpp
index 675f6cefb..54e7299a2 100644
--- a/dbcon/execplan/aggregatecolumn.cpp
+++ b/dbcon/execplan/aggregatecolumn.cpp
@@ -408,16 +408,19 @@ void AggregateColumn::evaluate(Row& row, bool& isNull)
                     break;
 
                 default:
-                    if (row.equals(CPNULLSTRMARK, fInputIndex))
+                {
+                    auto const str = row.getConstString(fInputIndex);
+                    if (str.eq(utils::ConstString(CPNULLSTRMARK)))
                         isNull = true;
                     else
-                        fResult.strVal = row.getStringField(fInputIndex);
+                        fResult.strVal = str.toString();
 
                     // stringColVal is padded with '\0' to colWidth so can't use str.length()
                     if (strlen(fResult.strVal.c_str()) == 0)
                         isNull = true;
 
                     break;
+                }
             }
 
             if (fResultType.colDataType == CalpontSystemCatalog::STRINT)
diff --git a/dbcon/execplan/windowfunctioncolumn.cpp b/dbcon/execplan/windowfunctioncolumn.cpp
index afb1562fd..57a32a95a 100644
--- a/dbcon/execplan/windowfunctioncolumn.cpp
+++ b/dbcon/execplan/windowfunctioncolumn.cpp
@@ -494,16 +494,19 @@ void WindowFunctionColumn::evaluate(Row& row, bool& isNull)
                 case 16:
                     //fallthrough
                 default:
-                    if (row.equals(CPNULLSTRMARK, fInputIndex))
+                {
+                    const auto str = row.getConstString(fInputIndex);
+                    if (str.eq(utils::ConstString(CPNULLSTRMARK)))
                         isNull = true;
                     else
-                        fResult.strVal = row.getStringField(fInputIndex);
+                        fResult.strVal = str.toString();
 
                     // stringColVal is padded with '\0' to colWidth so can't use str.length()
                     if (strlen(fResult.strVal.c_str()) == 0)
                         isNull = true;
 
                     break;
+                }
             }
 
             if (fResultType.colDataType == CalpontSystemCatalog::STRINT)
diff --git a/dbcon/joblist/groupconcat.cpp b/dbcon/joblist/groupconcat.cpp
index 09174b381..91aa4e3b4 100644
--- a/dbcon/joblist/groupconcat.cpp
+++ b/dbcon/joblist/groupconcat.cpp
@@ -375,7 +375,7 @@ void GroupConcatAgUM::applyMapping(const boost::shared_array<int>& mapping, cons
                 fRow.getColTypes()[i] == execplan::CalpontSystemCatalog::VARCHAR ||
                 fRow.getColTypes()[i] == execplan::CalpontSystemCatalog::TEXT)
             {
-                fRow.setStringField(row.getStringPointer(mapping[i]), row.getStringLength(mapping[i]), i);
+                fRow.setStringField(row.getConstString(mapping[i]), i);
             }
             else if (fRow.getColTypes()[i] == execplan::CalpontSystemCatalog::LONGDOUBLE)
             {
@@ -621,8 +621,7 @@ int64_t GroupConcator::lengthEstimate(const rowgroup::Row& row)
             case CalpontSystemCatalog::VARCHAR:
             case CalpontSystemCatalog::TEXT:
             {
-                int64_t colWidth = row.getStringLength(*i);
-                fieldLen += colWidth;   // getStringLength() does the same thing as below
+                fieldLen += row.getConstString(*i).length();
                 break;
             }
 
diff --git a/primitives/primproc/dictstep.cpp b/primitives/primproc/dictstep.cpp
index fd8c3013d..2981e4ff8 100644
--- a/primitives/primproc/dictstep.cpp
+++ b/primitives/primproc/dictstep.cpp
@@ -578,7 +578,7 @@ void DictStep::_projectToRG(RowGroup& rg, uint32_t col)
             {
                 rg.getRow(newRidList[i].pos, &r);
                 //cout << "serializing " << tmpStrings[i] << endl;
-                r.setStringField(tmpStrings[i].ptr, tmpStrings[i].len, col);
+                r.setStringField(tmpStrings[i].getConstString(), col);
             }
         }
         else
diff --git a/primitives/primproc/dictstep.h b/primitives/primproc/dictstep.h
index 6af6d2a95..0eb37ca7c 100644
--- a/primitives/primproc/dictstep.h
+++ b/primitives/primproc/dictstep.h
@@ -83,6 +83,10 @@ private:
 
         StringPtr() : ptr(NULL), len(0) {;}
         StringPtr(const uint8_t* p, unsigned l) : ptr(p), len(l) {;}
+        utils::ConstString getConstString() const
+        {
+            return utils::ConstString((const char *) ptr, len);
+        }
     };
 
     void _execute();
diff --git a/utils/common/conststring.h b/utils/common/conststring.h
index f7fd890e9..685900aac 100644
--- a/utils/common/conststring.h
+++ b/utils/common/conststring.h
@@ -38,10 +38,18 @@ public:
   const char *str() const { return mStr; }
   const char *end() const { return mStr + mLength; }
   size_t length() const { return mLength; }
+  std::string toString() const
+  {
+    return std::string(mStr, mLength);
+  }
   bool eq(char ch) const
   {
     return mLength == 1 && mStr[0] == ch;
   }
+  bool eq(const ConstString &rhs) const
+  {
+    return mLength == rhs.mLength && !memcmp(mStr, rhs.mStr, mLength);
+  }
   ConstString & rtrimZero()
   {
     for ( ; mLength && mStr[mLength - 1] == '\0'; mLength--)
diff --git a/utils/joiner/tuplejoiner.cpp b/utils/joiner/tuplejoiner.cpp
index bdd142ecc..880d4662c 100644
--- a/utils/joiner/tuplejoiner.cpp
+++ b/utils/joiner/tuplejoiner.cpp
@@ -1228,6 +1228,9 @@ public:
     TypelessDataStringEncoder(const uint8_t *str, uint32_t length)
        :mStr(str), mLength(length)
     { }
+    TypelessDataStringEncoder(const utils::ConstString &str)
+       :mStr((const uint8_t*) str.str()), mLength(str.length())
+    { }
     bool store(uint8_t* to, uint32_t& off, uint32_t keylen) const
     {
         if (mLength > 0xFFFF) // We encode length into two bytes below
@@ -1563,9 +1566,8 @@ TypelessData makeTypelessKey(const Row& r, const vector<uint32_t>& keyCols,
         if (datatypes::isCharType(type))
         {
             // this is a string, copy a normalized version
-            const uint8_t* str = r.getStringPointer(keyCols[i]);
-            uint32_t width = r.getStringLength(keyCols[i]);
-            if (TypelessDataStringEncoder(str, width).store(ret.data, off, keylen))
+            const utils::ConstString str = r.getConstString(keyCols[i]);
+            if (TypelessDataStringEncoder(str).store(ret.data, off, keylen))
                 goto toolong;
         }
         else if (datatypes::isWideDecimalType(type, r.getColumnWidth(keyCols[i])))
@@ -1683,15 +1685,10 @@ uint64_t getHashOfTypelessKey(const Row& r, const vector<uint32_t>& keyCols, uin
                 type == CalpontSystemCatalog::TEXT)
         {
             // this is a string, copy a normalized version
-            const uint8_t* str = r.getStringPointer(keyCols[i]);
-            uint32_t len = r.getStringLength(keyCols[i]);
-            ret = hasher((const char*) str, len, ret);
-            /*
-            for (uint32_t j = 0; j < width && str[j] != 0; j++)
-                ret.data[off++] = str[j];
-            */
+            const utils::ConstString str = r.getConstString(keyCols[i]);
+            ret = hasher(str.str(), str.length(), ret);
             ret = hasher(&nullChar, 1, ret);
-            width += len + 1;
+            width += str.length() + 1;
         }
         else if (r.getColType(keyCols[i]) == CalpontSystemCatalog::LONGDOUBLE)
         {
diff --git a/utils/rowgroup/rowaggregation.cpp b/utils/rowgroup/rowaggregation.cpp
index 3c47d210a..e87cb55df 100755
--- a/utils/rowgroup/rowaggregation.cpp
+++ b/utils/rowgroup/rowaggregation.cpp
@@ -388,7 +388,8 @@ inline bool RowAggregation::isNull(const RowGroup* pRowGroup, const Row& row, in
             else
             {
                 //@bug 1821
-                ret = (row.equals(string(""), col) || row.equals(joblist::CPNULLSTRMARK, col));
+                auto const str = row.getConstString(col);
+                ret = str.length() == 0 || str.eq(utils::ConstString(joblist::CPNULLSTRMARK));
             }
 
             break;
@@ -486,7 +487,8 @@ inline bool RowAggregation::isNull(const RowGroup* pRowGroup, const Row& row, in
         case execplan::CalpontSystemCatalog::VARBINARY:
         case execplan::CalpontSystemCatalog::BLOB:
         {
-            ret = (row.equals(string(""), col) || row.equals(joblist::CPNULLSTRMARK, col));
+            auto const str = row.getConstString(col);
+            ret = str.length() == 0 || str.eq(utils::ConstString(joblist::CPNULLSTRMARK));
             break;
         }
 
@@ -949,8 +951,7 @@ void RowAggregation::initMapData(const Row& rowIn)
                 }
                 else
                 {
-                    fRow.setStringField(rowIn.getStringPointer(colIn),
-                                        rowIn.getStringLength(colIn), colOut);
+                    fRow.setStringField(rowIn.getConstString(colIn), colOut);
                 }
 
                 break;
diff --git a/utils/rowgroup/rowgroup.cpp b/utils/rowgroup/rowgroup.cpp
index 3266b257e..60688a327 100644
--- a/utils/rowgroup/rowgroup.cpp
+++ b/utils/rowgroup/rowgroup.cpp
@@ -346,45 +346,6 @@ void UserDataStore::deserialize(ByteStream& bs)
     return;
 }
 
-inline bool StringStore::equals(const std::string& str, uint64_t off, CHARSET_INFO* cs) const
-{
-    uint32_t length;
-
-    if (off == std::numeric_limits<uint64_t>::max())
-        return str == joblist::CPNULLSTRMARK;
-
-    MemChunk* mc;
-
-    if (off & 0x8000000000000000)
-    {
-        if (longStrings.size() <= (off & ~0x8000000000000000))
-            return false;
-
-        mc = (MemChunk*) longStrings[off & ~0x8000000000000000].get();
-
-        memcpy(&length, mc->data, 4);
-
-        // Not sure if this check it needed, but adds safety
-        if (length > mc->currentSize)
-            return false;
-
-        return (cs->strnncoll(str.c_str(), str.length(), (const char*)mc->data+4, length) == 0);
-    }
-
-    uint32_t chunk = off / CHUNK_SIZE;
-    uint32_t offset = off % CHUNK_SIZE;
-
-    if (mem.size() <=  chunk)
-        return false;
-
-    mc = (MemChunk*) mem[chunk].get();
-    memcpy(&length, &mc->data[offset], 4);
-
-    if ((offset + length) > mc->currentSize)
-        return false;
-
-    return (cs->strnncoll(str.c_str(), str.length(), (const char*)&mc->data[offset]+4, length) == 0);
-}
 
 RGData::RGData()
 {
@@ -598,8 +559,10 @@ string Row::toString(uint32_t rownum) const
                 case CalpontSystemCatalog::CHAR:
                 case CalpontSystemCatalog::VARCHAR:
                 {
-                    const string& tmp = getStringField(i);
-                    os << "(" << getStringLength(i) << ") '" << tmp << "' ";
+                    const utils::ConstString tmp = getConstString(i);
+                    os << "(" << tmp.length() << ") '";
+                    os.write(tmp.str(), tmp.length());
+                    os << "' ";
                     break;
                 }
 
@@ -1112,24 +1075,6 @@ int64_t Row::getSignedNullValue(uint32_t colIndex) const
     return utils::getSignedNullValue(types[colIndex], getColumnWidth(colIndex));
 }
 
-bool Row::equals(const std::string& val, uint32_t col) const
-{
-    const CHARSET_INFO* cs = getCharset(col);
-    if (UNLIKELY(getColType(col) == execplan::CalpontSystemCatalog::BLOB))
-    {
-        if (getStringLength(col) != val.length())
-            return false;
-
-        if (memcmp(getStringPointer(col), val.c_str(), val.length()))
-            return false;
-    }
-    else
-    {
-        return (cs->strnncollsp((char*)getStringPointer(col), getStringLength(col),
-                                val.c_str(), val.length()) == 0);
-    }
-    return true;
-}
 
 bool Row::equals(const Row& r2, uint32_t lastCol) const
 {
@@ -1151,19 +1096,15 @@ bool Row::equals(const Row& r2, uint32_t lastCol) const
         cscDataType columnType = getColType(col);
         if (UNLIKELY(typeHasCollation(columnType)))
         {
-            CHARSET_INFO* cs = getCharset(col);
-            if (cs->strnncollsp(getStringPointer(col), getStringLength(col), 
-                          r2.getStringPointer(col), r2.getStringLength(col)))
+            datatypes::Charset cs(getCharset(col));
+            if (cs.strnncollsp(getConstString(col), r2.getConstString(col)))
             {
                 return false;
             }
         }
         else if (UNLIKELY(columnType == execplan::CalpontSystemCatalog::BLOB))
         {
-            if (getStringLength(col) != r2.getStringLength(col))
-                return false;
-
-            if (memcmp(getStringPointer(col), r2.getStringPointer(col), getStringLength(col)))
+            if (!getConstString(col).eq(r2.getConstString(col)))
                 return false;
         }
         else
@@ -1573,7 +1514,7 @@ void applyMapping(const int* mapping, const Row& in, Row* out)
                          in.getColTypes()[i] == execplan::CalpontSystemCatalog::TEXT))
                 out->setVarBinaryField(in.getVarBinaryField(i), in.getVarBinaryLength(i), mapping[i]);
             else if (UNLIKELY(in.isLongString(i)))
-                out->setStringField(in.getStringPointer(i), in.getStringLength(i), mapping[i]);
+                out->setStringField(in.getConstString(i), mapping[i]);
             else if (UNLIKELY(in.isShortString(i)))
                 out->setUintField(in.getUintField(i), mapping[i]);
             else if (UNLIKELY(in.getColTypes()[i] == execplan::CalpontSystemCatalog::LONGDOUBLE))
diff --git a/utils/rowgroup/rowgroup.h b/utils/rowgroup/rowgroup.h
index 79a0f4b29..4f9401036 100644
--- a/utils/rowgroup/rowgroup.h
+++ b/utils/rowgroup/rowgroup.h
@@ -159,7 +159,6 @@ public:
     inline bool isEmpty() const;
     inline uint64_t getSize() const;
     inline bool isNullValue(uint64_t offset) const;
-    bool equals(const std::string& str, uint64_t offset, CHARSET_INFO* cs) const;
 
     void clear();
 
@@ -427,7 +426,6 @@ public:
     inline bool equals(T* value, uint32_t colIndex) const;
     template<int len> inline bool equals(uint64_t val, uint32_t colIndex) const;
     inline bool equals(long double val, uint32_t colIndex) const;
-    bool equals(const std::string& val, uint32_t colIndex) const;
     inline bool equals(const int128_t& val, uint32_t colIndex) const;
 
     inline double getDoubleField(uint32_t colIndex) const;
@@ -480,14 +478,16 @@ public:
 
     inline void setRid(uint64_t rid);
 
-    // is string efficient for this?
-    inline std::string getStringField(uint32_t colIndex) const;
-    inline const uint8_t* getStringPointer(uint32_t colIndex) const;
-    inline uint32_t getStringLength(uint32_t colIndex) const;
+    // TODO: remove this (string is not efficient for this), use getConstString() instead
+    inline std::string getStringField(uint32_t colIndex) const
+    {
+        return getConstString(colIndex).toString();
+    }
+
     inline utils::ConstString getConstString(uint32_t colIndex) const;
     inline utils::ConstString getShortConstString(uint32_t colIndex) const;
     void setStringField(const std::string& val, uint32_t colIndex);
-    inline void setStringField(const uint8_t*, uint32_t len, uint32_t colIndex);
+    inline void setStringField(const utils::ConstString &str, uint32_t colIndex);
     template<typename T>
     inline void setBinaryField(const T* value, uint32_t width, uint32_t colIndex);
     template<typename T>
@@ -687,7 +687,7 @@ inline uint32_t Row::getRealSize() const
         if (!inStringTable(i))
             ret += getColumnWidth(i);
         else
-            ret += getStringLength(i);
+            ret += getConstString(i).length();
     }
 
     return ret;
@@ -879,21 +879,6 @@ inline int64_t Row::getIntField(uint32_t colIndex) const
     }
 }
 
-inline const uint8_t* Row::getStringPointer(uint32_t colIndex) const
-{
-    if (inStringTable(colIndex))
-        return strings->getPointer(*((uint64_t*) &data[offsets[colIndex]]));
-
-    return &data[offsets[colIndex]];
-}
-
-inline uint32_t Row::getStringLength(uint32_t colIndex) const
-{
-    if (inStringTable(colIndex))
-        return strings->getStringLength(*((uint64_t*) &data[offsets[colIndex]]));
-
-    return strnlen((char*) &data[offsets[colIndex]], getColumnWidth(colIndex));
-}
 
 template<typename T>
 inline void Row::setBinaryField(const T* value, uint32_t width, uint32_t colIndex)
@@ -1040,16 +1025,18 @@ inline void Row::colUpdateHasherTypeless(datatypes::MariaDBHasher &h, uint32_t k
     }
 }
 
-inline void Row::setStringField(const uint8_t* strdata, uint32_t length, uint32_t colIndex)
+inline void Row::setStringField(const utils::ConstString &str, uint32_t colIndex)
 {
     uint64_t offset;
 
+    // TODO: add multi-byte safe truncation here
+    uint32_t length = str.length();
     if (length > getColumnWidth(colIndex))
         length = getColumnWidth(colIndex);
 
     if (inStringTable(colIndex))
     {
-        offset = strings->storeString(strdata, length);
+        offset = strings->storeString((const uint8_t*) str.str(), length);
         *((uint64_t*) &data[offsets[colIndex]]) = offset;
 //		cout << " -- stored offset " << *((uint32_t *) &data[offsets[colIndex]])
 //				<< " length " << *((uint32_t *) &data[offsets[colIndex] + 4])
@@ -1057,22 +1044,12 @@ inline void Row::setStringField(const uint8_t* strdata, uint32_t length, uint32_
     }
     else
     {
-        memcpy(&data[offsets[colIndex]], strdata, length);
+        memcpy(&data[offsets[colIndex]], str.str(), length);
         memset(&data[offsets[colIndex] + length], 0,
                offsets[colIndex + 1] - (offsets[colIndex] + length));
     }
 }
 
-inline std::string Row::getStringField(uint32_t colIndex) const
-{
-    if (inStringTable(colIndex))
-        return strings->getString(*((uint64_t*) &data[offsets[colIndex]]));
-
-    // Not all CHAR/VARCHAR are NUL terminated so use length
-    return std::string((char*) &data[offsets[colIndex]],
-                       strnlen((char*) &data[offsets[colIndex]], getColumnWidth(colIndex)));
-}
-
 template <typename T>
 inline T* Row::getBinaryField(uint32_t colIndex) const
 {
@@ -1094,7 +1071,7 @@ inline T* Row::getBinaryField_offset(uint32_t offset) const
 inline std::string Row::getVarBinaryStringField(uint32_t colIndex) const
 {
     if (inStringTable(colIndex))
-        return getStringField(colIndex);
+        return getConstString(colIndex).toString();
 
     return std::string((char*) &data[offsets[colIndex] + 2], *((uint16_t*) &data[offsets[colIndex]]));
 }
@@ -1440,7 +1417,7 @@ inline void Row::copyField(Row& out, uint32_t destIndex, uint32_t srcIndex) cons
     }
     else if (UNLIKELY(isLongString(srcIndex)))
     {
-        out.setStringField(getStringPointer(srcIndex), getStringLength(srcIndex), destIndex);
+        out.setStringField(getConstString(srcIndex), destIndex);
     }
     else if (UNLIKELY(isShortString(srcIndex)))
     {
@@ -2079,7 +2056,7 @@ inline void copyRow(const Row& in, Row* out, uint32_t colCount)
         }
         else if (UNLIKELY(in.isLongString(i)))
         {
-            out->setStringField(in.getStringPointer(i), in.getStringLength(i), i);
+            out->setStringField(in.getConstString(i), i);
         }
         else if (UNLIKELY(in.isShortString(i)))
         {
diff --git a/utils/windowfunction/idborderby.cpp b/utils/windowfunction/idborderby.cpp
index bc5598db5..156cd4def 100644
--- a/utils/windowfunction/idborderby.cpp
+++ b/utils/windowfunction/idborderby.cpp
@@ -327,15 +327,14 @@ int StringCompare::operator()(IdbCompare* l, Row::Pointer r1, Row::Pointer r2)
     }
     else
     {
-        int len1 = l->row1().getStringLength(fSpec.fIndex);
-        int len2 = l->row2().getStringLength(fSpec.fIndex);
-        const char* s1 = (const char*)l->row1().getStringPointer(fSpec.fIndex);
-        const char* s2 = (const char*)l->row2().getStringPointer(fSpec.fIndex);
+        auto const str1 = l->row1().getConstString(fSpec.fIndex);
+        auto const str2 = l->row2().getConstString(fSpec.fIndex);
 
         if (!cs)
             cs = l->rowGroup()->getCharset(fSpec.fIndex);
         
-        ret = fSpec.fAsc * cs->strnncollsp(s1, len1, s2, len2);
+        ret = fSpec.fAsc * cs->strnncollsp(str1.str(), str1.length(),
+                                           str2.str(), str2.length());
     }
 
     return ret;