What is a VARCHAR in SQL?

So what is varchar in SQL? As the name suggests, varchar means character data that is varying. Also known as Variable Character, it is an indeterminate length string data type. It can hold numbers, letters and special characters.

What is VARCHAR in SQL with example?

VARCHAR is a variable length string data type, so it holds only the characters you assign to it. VARCHAR takes up 1 byte per character, + 2 bytes to hold length information. For example, if you set a VARCHAR(100) data type = 'Jen', then it would take up 3 bytes (for J, E, and N) plus 2 bytes, or 5 bytes in all.

Why VARCHAR is used in SQL?

Varchar is a datatype in SQL that holds characters of variable length. This data type stores character strings of up to 255 bytes in a variable-length field. The data can consist of letters, numbers, and symbols. It uses dynamic memory location.

What does VARCHAR 20 mean?

May 3, 2018 at 5:27. 3. @NIMISHAN (20) is the length of string you will be inserting in the table. suppose social security number is of 9 digit, therefore its length is 9 and it can be easily put in column of datatype VARCHAR(20), but it will cause error in VARCHAR(2)

What is difference between string and VARCHAR?

Use varchar if you want to have a length constraint. Use string if you don't want to restrict the length of the text.

MySQL 26 - VARCHAR Data Type

What is VARCHAR in MySQL?

Varchar in MySQL is a data type used for storing text whose length can have a maximum of 65535 characters. The varchar columns in the table are of variable length string that can hold either numeric or character or both. This data type is capable of storing only 255 characters before version 5.0.

What is the difference between CHAR and VARCHAR data type in SQL?

Difference between CHAR and VARCHAR datatypes

In CHAR, If the length of string is less than set or fixed length then it is padded with extra memory space. In VARCHAR, If the length of string is less than set or fixed length then it will store as it is without padded with extra memory spaces.

Why is VARCHAR 255?

1 byte for the length, and the actual storage for the rest. 255 is the max limit, not an allocation. 255 is not the max limit. There is a variable MAX you can use which Varchar(max) stores a maximum of 2 147 483 647 characters.

What does VARCHAR 255 mean in SQL?

Storage Information :

The effective maximum length of a VARCHAR is subject to the maximum row size (65,535 bytes, which is shared among all columns) and the character set used. Make sure you are aware of the effects of a multi-byte character set. VARCHAR(255) stores 255 characters, which may be more than 255 bytes.

What does VARCHAR 50 mean?

Varchar(50) stores a maximum of 50 characters. Varchar(max) stores a maximum of 2,147,483,647 characters. But, varchar(50) keeps the 50 character space even if you don't store 50 characters. but varchar(max) is flexible to any size.

Why should we use VARCHAR?

VARCHAR stores variable-length character strings and is the most common string data type. It can require less storage space than fixed-length types, because it uses only as much space as it needs (i.e., less space is used to store shorter values).

Should I use VARCHAR or CHAR?

If you use char or varchar, we recommend to: Use char when the sizes of the column data entries are consistent. Use varchar when the sizes of the column data entries vary considerably. Use varchar(max) when the sizes of the column data entries vary considerably, and the string length might exceed 8,000 bytes.

What is VARCHAR value?

Values in VARCHAR columns are variable-length strings. The length can be specified as a value from 0 to 65,535. The effective maximum length of a VARCHAR is subject to the maximum row size (65,535 bytes, which is shared among all columns) and the character set used.

What does VARCHAR 100 mean?

varchar(100) I learned, is a variable length string character field up to. 100 characters in length.

What characters are allowed in VARCHAR?

What is difference between VARCHAR and NVARCHAR?

varchar is used for non-Unicode characters only on the other hand nvarchar is used for both unicode and non-unicode characters.

What does VARCHAR 10 mean?

To give you an example, CHAR(10) is a fixed-length non-Unicode string of length 10, while VARCHAR(10) is a variable-length non-Unicode string with a maximum length of 10. This means the actual length will depend upon the data.

Does VARCHAR need length?

A VARCHAR column uses one length byte if values require no more than 255 bytes, two length bytes if values may require more than 255 bytes. MariaDB follows the standard SQL specification, and does not remove trailing spaces from VARCHAR values.

What is maximum length of VARCHAR?

The size of the maximum size (m) parameter of a VARCHAR column can range from 1 to 255 bytes. If you are placing an index on a VARCHAR column, the maximum size is 254 bytes. You can store character strings that are shorter, but not longer, than the m value that you specify.

What are SQL data types?

What is default size of VARCHAR in SQL?

VARCHAR is a variable-length character data type. The default length is 80, and the maximum length is 65000 octets. For string values longer than 65000, use Long Data Types.

How is VARCHAR stored?

All varchar data is stored at the end of the row in a variable length section (or in offrow pages if it can't fit in row). The amount of space it consumes in that section (and whether or not it ends up off row) is entirely dependant upon the length of the actual data not the column declaration.

Is VARCHAR alphanumeric?

varchar is datatype for storing alphanumeric values in SQL . The varchar data type holds alphanumeric data; just like char but with flexible size, you just set the maximum number of characters, maximum size is 8,000 character.