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mysqlsqldatatypescurrency

Best data type to store money values in MySQL

I want to store many records in a MySQL database. All of them contains money values. But I don't know how many digits will be inserted for each one.
Which data type do I have to use for this purpose?
VARCHAR or INT (or other numeric data types)?

Solution

  • Since money needs an exact representation don't use data types that are only approximate like float. You can use a fixed-point numeric data type for that like

    decimal(15,2)
    • 15 is the precision (total length of value including decimal places)
    • 2 is the number of digits after decimal point
    • The max possible number in this example would be 9999999999999.99

    See MySQL Numeric Types:

    These types are used when it is important to preserve exact precision, for example with monetary data.