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mysqlvarchar

MySQL VARCHAR size?

If I have a VARCHAR of 200 characters and that I put a string of 100 characters, will it use 200 bytes or it will just use the actual size of the string?

Solution

  • 100 characters.

    This is the var (variable) in varchar: you only store what you enter (and an extra 2 bytes to store length upto 65535)

    If it was char(200) then you'd always store 200 characters, padded with 100 spaces

    See the docs: "The CHAR and VARCHAR Types"