=== modified file 'src/com/mysql/jdbc/StringUtils.java'
--- src/com/mysql/jdbc/StringUtils.java	2013-10-16 16:25:02 +0000
+++ src/com/mysql/jdbc/StringUtils.java	2014-03-11 11:08:05 +0000
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 import java.lang.reflect.Method;
 import java.math.BigDecimal;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.nio.CharBuffer;
 import java.nio.charset.Charset;
 import java.nio.charset.IllegalCharsetNameException;
 import java.nio.charset.UnsupportedCharsetException;
@@ -400,11 +401,11 @@
 	 * 
 	 * @return String the string with a '+' added (if needed)
 	 */
-	public static final String fixDecimalExponent(String dString) {
-		int ePos = dString.indexOf("E"); //$NON-NLS-1$
+	public static String fixDecimalExponent(String dString) {
+		int ePos = dString.indexOf('E'); //$NON-NLS-1$
 
 		if (ePos == -1) {
-			ePos = dString.indexOf("e"); //$NON-NLS-1$
+			ePos = dString.indexOf('e'); //$NON-NLS-1$
 		}
 
 		if (ePos != -1) {
@@ -424,28 +425,27 @@
 		return dString;
 	}
 
-	public static final byte[] getBytes(char[] c,
+	public static byte[] getBytes(char[] c,
 			SingleByteCharsetConverter converter, String encoding,
 			String serverEncoding, boolean parserKnowsUnicode, ExceptionInterceptor exceptionInterceptor)
 			throws SQLException {
 		try {
-			byte[] b = null;
+			byte[] b;
 
 			if (converter != null) {
 				b = converter.toBytes(c);
 			} else if (encoding == null) {
-				b = new String(c).getBytes();
+				b = getBytes(c, 0, c.length, platformEncoding);
 			} else {
-				String s = new String(c);
-
-				b = s.getBytes(encoding);
+				b = getBytes(c, 0, c.length, encoding);
 
 				if (!parserKnowsUnicode && (encoding.equalsIgnoreCase("SJIS") //$NON-NLS-1$
 						|| encoding.equalsIgnoreCase("BIG5") //$NON-NLS-1$
 				|| encoding.equalsIgnoreCase("GBK"))) { //$NON-NLS-1$
 
 					if (!encoding.equalsIgnoreCase(serverEncoding)) {
-						b = escapeEasternUnicodeByteStream(b, s, 0, s.length());
+                        String s = new String(c);
+						b = escapeEasternUnicodeByteStream(b, s, 0, b.length);
 					}
 				}
 			}
@@ -458,38 +458,27 @@
 		}
 	}
 
-	public static final byte[] getBytes(char[] c,
+	public static byte[] getBytes(char[] c,
 			SingleByteCharsetConverter converter, String encoding,
 			String serverEncoding, int offset, int length,
 			boolean parserKnowsUnicode, ExceptionInterceptor exceptionInterceptor) throws SQLException {
 		try {
-			byte[] b = null;
+			byte[] b;
 
 			if (converter != null) {
 				b = converter.toBytes(c, offset, length);
 			} else if (encoding == null) {
-				byte[] temp = new String(c, offset, length).getBytes();
-
-				length = temp.length;
-				
-				b = new byte[length];
-				System.arraycopy(temp, 0, b, 0, length);
+				b = getBytes(c, offset, length, platformEncoding);
 			} else {
-				String s = new String(c, offset, length);
-
-				byte[] temp = s.getBytes(encoding);
-
-				length = temp.length;
-				
-				b = new byte[length];
-				System.arraycopy(temp, 0, b, 0, length);
+				b = getBytes(c, offset, length, encoding);
 
 				if (!parserKnowsUnicode && (encoding.equalsIgnoreCase("SJIS") //$NON-NLS-1$
 						|| encoding.equalsIgnoreCase("BIG5") //$NON-NLS-1$
 				|| encoding.equalsIgnoreCase("GBK"))) { //$NON-NLS-1$
 
 					if (!encoding.equalsIgnoreCase(serverEncoding)) {
-						b = escapeEasternUnicodeByteStream(b, s, offset, length);
+                        String s = new String(c, offset, length);
+						b = escapeEasternUnicodeByteStream(b, s, offset, b.length);
 					}
 				}
 			}
@@ -502,13 +491,13 @@
 		}
 	}
 
-	public static final byte[] getBytes(char[] c, String encoding,
+	public static byte[] getBytes(char[] c, String encoding,
 			String serverEncoding, boolean parserKnowsUnicode, 
 			MySQLConnection conn, ExceptionInterceptor exceptionInterceptor)
 			throws SQLException {
 		try {
 			
-			SingleByteCharsetConverter converter = null;
+			SingleByteCharsetConverter converter;
 			
 			if (conn != null) {
 				converter = conn.getCharsetConverter(encoding);
@@ -545,12 +534,12 @@
 	 * @throws SQLException
 	 *             if an encoding unsupported by the JVM is supplied.
 	 */
-	public static final byte[] getBytes(String s,
+	public static byte[] getBytes(String s,
 			SingleByteCharsetConverter converter, String encoding,
 			String serverEncoding, boolean parserKnowsUnicode, ExceptionInterceptor exceptionInterceptor)
 			throws SQLException {
 		try {
-			byte[] b = null;
+			byte[] b;
 
 			if (converter != null) {
 				b = converter.toBytes(s);
@@ -577,12 +566,12 @@
 		}
 	}
 
-	public static final byte[] getBytesWrapped(String s, char beginWrap, char endWrap,
+	public static byte[] getBytesWrapped(String s, char beginWrap, char endWrap,
 			SingleByteCharsetConverter converter, String encoding,
 			String serverEncoding, boolean parserKnowsUnicode, ExceptionInterceptor exceptionInterceptor)
 			throws SQLException {
 		try {
-			byte[] b = null;
+			byte[] b;
 
 			if (converter != null) {
 				b = converter.toBytesWrapped(s, beginWrap, endWrap);
@@ -643,38 +632,28 @@
 	 * @throws SQLException
 	 *             DOCUMENT ME!
 	 */
-	public static final byte[] getBytes(String s,
+	public static byte[] getBytes(String s,
 			SingleByteCharsetConverter converter, String encoding,
 			String serverEncoding, int offset, int length,
 			boolean parserKnowsUnicode, ExceptionInterceptor exceptionInterceptor) throws SQLException {
 		try {
-			byte[] b = null;
+			byte[] b;
 
 			if (converter != null) {
 				b = converter.toBytes(s, offset, length);
 			} else if (encoding == null) {
-				byte[] temp = s.substring(offset, offset + length).getBytes();
-
-				length = temp.length;
-				
-				b = new byte[length];
-				System.arraycopy(temp, 0, b, 0, length);
+				b = s.substring(offset, offset + length).getBytes();
 			} else {
 
-				byte[] temp = s.substring(offset, offset + length)
+				b = s.substring(offset, offset + length)
 					.getBytes(encoding);
 
-				length = temp.length;
-				
-				b = new byte[length];
-				System.arraycopy(temp, 0, b, 0, length);
-
 				if (!parserKnowsUnicode && (encoding.equalsIgnoreCase("SJIS") //$NON-NLS-1$
 						|| encoding.equalsIgnoreCase("BIG5") //$NON-NLS-1$
 				|| encoding.equalsIgnoreCase("GBK"))) { //$NON-NLS-1$
 
 					if (!encoding.equalsIgnoreCase(serverEncoding)) {
-						b = escapeEasternUnicodeByteStream(b, s, offset, length);
+						b = escapeEasternUnicodeByteStream(b, s, offset, b.length);
 					}
 				}
 			}
@@ -703,12 +682,12 @@
 	 * @throws SQLException
 	 *             if an encoding unsupported by the JVM is supplied.
 	 */
-	public static final byte[] getBytes(String s, String encoding,
+	public static byte[] getBytes(String s, String encoding,
 			String serverEncoding, boolean parserKnowsUnicode, 
 			MySQLConnection conn, ExceptionInterceptor exceptionInterceptor)
 			throws SQLException {
 		try {
-			SingleByteCharsetConverter converter = null;
+			SingleByteCharsetConverter converter;
 			
 			if (conn != null) {
 				converter = conn.getCharsetConverter(encoding);
@@ -2078,4 +2057,22 @@
 	public static final boolean isValidIdChar(char c) {
 		return VALID_ID_CHARS.indexOf(c) != -1;
 	}
+
+    public static byte[] getBytes(char[] value, int offset, int length,
+        String encoding) throws UnsupportedEncodingException
+    {
+        Charset cs = findCharset(encoding);
+
+		// can't simply .array() this to get the bytes
+		// especially with variable-length charsets the
+		// buffer is sometimes larger than the actual encoded data
+		ByteBuffer buf = cs.encode(CharBuffer.wrap(value, offset, length));
+
+		int encodedLen = buf.limit();
+		byte[] asBytes = new byte[encodedLen];
+		buf.get(asBytes, 0, encodedLen);
+
+		return asBytes;
+	}
+
 }