What Is CHAR?
What is VARCHAR?
Difference Between CHAR And VARCHAR In Tabular Form
| CHAR STRING DATA TYPE | VARCHAR STRING DATA TYPE |
| Char are fixed length strings with a set length specified. | Varchar are variable length strings with a maximum length specified. |
| CHAR datatype is used to store character string of fixed length. | VARCHAR datatype is used to store character string of variable length. |
| 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. |
| CHAR datatypes can be used when we expect the data values in a column to be of same length. | VARCHAR datatype can be used when we expect the data values in a column to be of variable length. |
| The storage size for CHAR is equal to the storage size of the column and stores values of only fixed length like phone numbers. | The storage size of VARCHAR depends on the string that is stored as it stores different alphanumeric strings like an address. |
| CHAR uses static memory allocation. | VARCHAR uses dynamic memory allocation. |
| Since CHAR is used only for fixed values, it has a maximum character limit of only 255 characters. They use only one string type data. | VARCHAR has a character limit of 65535 characters as it can store different strings of data and the limit depends on the limit of each string. |
| CHAR stores only specific string characters. | VARCHAR can store various string characters like alphabets, numbers and variables. |
| CHAR takes 1 byte per character for storage. | VARCHAR takes 1 byte per character plus 1 or 2 extra bytes for storing length information. |
| CHAR should be used when the length of the variable is known. | VARCHAR should be used only when the length of the variable is not known. |
| CHAR does not shrink the space if not fully filled. | VARCHAR shrinks the space if not fully filled. |
What You Need To Know About CHAR And VARCHAR
CHAR
- Char are fixed length strings with a set length specified.
- CHAR datatype is used to store character string of fixed length.
- In CHAR, if the length of string is less than set or fixed length then it is padded with extra memory space.
- CHAR datatypes can be used when we expect the data values in a column to be of same length.
- The storage size for CHAR is equal to the storage size of the column and stores values of only fixed length like phone numbers.
- CHAR uses static memory allocation.
- Since CHAR is used only for fixed values, it has a maximum character limit of only 255 characters. They use only one string type data.
- CHAR stores only specific string characters.
- CHAR takes 1 byte per character for storage.
- CHAR should be used when the length of the variable is known.
- CHAR does not shrink the space if not fully filled.
VARCHAR
- Varchar are variable length strings with a maximum length specified.
- VARCHAR datatype is used to store character string of variable length.
- 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.
- VARCHAR datatype can be used when we expect the data values in a column to be of variable length.
- The storage size of VARCHAR depends on the string that is stored as it stores different alphanumeric strings like an address.
- VARCHAR uses dynamic memory allocation.
- VARCHAR has a character limit of 65535 characters as it can store different strings of data and the limit depends on the limit of each string.
- VARCHAR can store various string characters like alphabets, numbers and variables.
- VARCHAR takes 1 byte per character plus 1 or 2 extra bytes for storing length information.
- VARCHAR should be used only when the length of the variable is not known.
- VARCHAR shrinks the space if not fully filled.