How do you get the string length in a batch file?

There doesn't appear to be an easy way to get the length of a string in a batch file. E.g.,

SET MY_STRING=abcdefg
SET /A MY_STRING_LEN=???

How would I find the string length of MY_STRING?

Bonus points if the string length function handles all possible characters in strings including escape characters, like this: !%^^()^!.

As there is no built in function for string length, you can write your own function like this one:

@echo off
setlocal
REM *** Some tests, to check the functionality ***
REM *** An emptyStr has the length 0
set "emptyString="
call :strlen result emptyString
echo %result%

REM *** This string has the length 14
set "myString=abcdef!%%^^()^!"
call :strlen result myString
echo %result%

REM *** This string has the maximum length of 8191
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
set "long=."
FOR /L %%n in (1 1 13) DO set "long=!long:~-4000!!long:~-4000!"
(set^ longString=!long!!long:~-191!)

call :strlen result longString
echo %result%

goto :eof

REM ********* function *****************************
:strlen <resultVar> <stringVar>
(   
    setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
    (set^ tmp=!%~2!)
    if defined tmp (
        set "len=1"
        for %%P in (4096 2048 1024 512 256 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1) do (
            if "!tmp:~%%P,1!" NEQ "" ( 
                set /a "len+=%%P"
                set "tmp=!tmp:~%%P!"
            )
        )
    ) ELSE (
        set len=0
    )
)
( 
    endlocal
    set "%~1=%len%"
    exit /b
)

This function needs always 13 loops, instead of a simple strlen function which needs strlen-loops.
It handles all characters.

The strange expression (set^ tmp=!%~2!) is necessary to handle ultra long strings, else it's not possible to copy them.