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.

What does VARCHAR 30 mean?

The CHAR and VARCHAR types are declared with a length that indicates the maximum number of characters you want to store. For example, CHAR(30) can hold up to 30 characters. The length of a CHAR column is fixed to the length that you declare when you create the table. The length can be any value from 0 to 255.

What is VARCHAR value?

The VARCHAR data type stores character strings of varying length that contain single-byte and (if the locale supports them) multibyte characters, where m is the maximum size (in bytes) of the column and r is the minimum number of bytes reserved for that column.

What is CHAR or VARCHAR?

CHAR is a fixed length field; VARCHAR is a variable length field. If you are storing strings with a wildly variable length such as names, then use a VARCHAR, if the length is always the same, then use a CHAR because it is slightly more size-efficient, and also slightly faster.

Why varchar is used in SQL?

Also known as Variable Character, it is an indeterminate length string data type. SQL varchar usually holds 1 byte per character and 2 more bytes for the length information. It is recommended to use varchar as the data type when columns have variable length and the actual data is way less than the given capacity.

Why char is faster than varchar?

Searching is faster in CHAR as all the strings are stored at a specified position from the each other, the system doesnot have to search for the end of string. Whereas in VARCHAR the system has to first find the end of string and then go for searching.

What is the meaning of VARCHAR 20?

The storage size is the actual length of data entered + 2 bytes. • For varchar (20): The max storage size is: 20*1 byte +2 bytes=22 bytes; • For varchar (100): The max storage size is: 100*1 byte +2 bytes=102 bytes.

Why VARCHAR is used in SQL?

What is VARCHAR length?

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.

Which is faster char or varchar?

VARCHAR is used to store variable length character strings up to 4000 characters. But, remember CHAR is faster than VARCHAR – some times up to 50% faster.

Which is faster CHAR or VARCHAR?

What is the difference between a char and A varchar in my SQL?

CHAR and VARCHAR are both ASCII character data types and almost same but they are different at the stage of storing and retrieving the data from the database. Following are some important differences between CHAR and VARCHAR in MySQL − It can hold a maximum of 255 characters. It can hold a maximum of 65,535 characters.

What is the difference between varchar and VARCHAR2 in Oracle?

The difference between VARCHAR and VARCHAR2 in Oracle is that VARCHAR is an ANSI-standard data type that supports a distinction between NULL and empty strings. Oracle has not yet implemented this distiction, so at the moment, VARCHAR and VARCHAR2 are the same.

What is the meaning of VARCHAR(MAX)?

VARCHAR (MAX) or NVARCHAR (MAX) is considered as a ‘large value type’. Large value types are usually stored ‘out of row’. It means that the data row will have a pointer to another location where the ‘large value’ is stored.

What is the maximum range of varchar in MySQL?

MySQL VARCHAR is the variable-length string whose length can be up to 65,535. MySQL stores a VARCHAR value as a 1-byte or 2-byte length prefix plus actual data. The length prefix specifies the number of bytes in the value. If a column requires less than 255 bytes, the length prefix is 1 byte.