The different databases define and handle VARCHAR types differently. MySQL documentation states:
"Values in VARCHAR columns are variable-length strings. The length can be specified as a value from 0 to 255 before MySQL 5.0.3, and 0 to 65,535 in 5.0.3 and later versions." So, the valid lengths for VARCHAR type are dependent on the MySQL version, and are variable, not padded. PostgreSQL 8.3 documentation states: "If one explicitly casts a value to character varying(n) [i.e. VARCHAR] or character(n) [i.e. CHAR] , then an over-length value will be truncated to n characters without raising an error. ... If character varying is used without length specifier, the type accepts strings of any size. The latter is a PostgreSQL extension." So in PostgreSQL, if you specify a length, that's what gets stored, but if you don't specify a length, anything goes. SQLite states: "SQLite does not enforce the length of a VARCHAR. You can declare a VARCHAR(10) and SQLite will be happy to let you put 500 characters in it. And it will keep all 500 characters intact - it never truncates." So size definitions won't matter in SQLite. Cheers, David --- Graham Leggett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Keith Bellairs wrote: > > > I think that depends on the DB. Using VARCHAR at least gives the engine > > a chance to optimize storage. CHAR is good for truly fixed length strings. > > This is true, I mixed up the varchar with the char. Adding a limit to > varchar is entirely arbitrary though, if the varchar can support a 2 > byte string length, then why not choose the biggest size available? > > Regards, > Graham > -- > > _______________________________________________ > gnucash-devel mailing list > gnucash-devel@gnucash.org > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-devel > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs _______________________________________________ gnucash-devel mailing list gnucash-devel@gnucash.org https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-devel
