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 −
CHAR Data Type | VARCHAR Data Type |
| Its full name is CHARACTER | Its full name is VARIABLE CHARACTER |
| It stores values in fixed lengths and are padded with space characters to match the specified length | VARCHAR stores values in variable length along with 1-byte or 2-byte length prefix and are not padded with any characters |
| It can hold a maximum of 255 characters. | It can hold a maximum of 65,535 characters. |
| It uses static memory allocation.mysql>create table emp[name CHAR[20]]; Query OK, 0 rows affected [0.25 | It uses dynamic memory allocation.mysql>create table emp1[name VARCHAR[20]]; Query OK, 0 rows affected [0.21 |
Updated on 19-Jun-2020 13:27:55
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Both are data types in many programming languages and database systems where ‘char’ refers to character and ‘varchar’ refers to variable character. Char in C represents the character type that is used to store string values, mostly UTF-8 encoded characters and integers. Varchar, on the other hand, is a data type which can contain data of any type of indeterminate length. Varchar refers to a data type of a field in a database management system. While they both can store string values up to a maximum length of 8,000 characters, char requires more storage than varchar. Technically, they are both used to store same types of data but they differ in the way they are stored and retrieved. Let’s take a look at their differences in detail.
What is Char?
Char is a fixed-length data type that is used to store non-Unicode characters, hence the name [short for character]. It occupies one byte of space for each character which are encoded as numbers – the ones from the ASCII encoding. The char type can also be used to declare small integers. To declare a character variable, the keyword ‘char’ is used, which means a single character is stored in one byte.
Like the integer types, char can be signed or unsigned. It can hold signed char values ranging from -128 to 127 and depending on the architectural size, it can also be unsigned, holding values ranging from 0 to 255. When char values are stored, they are right-padded with spaces to the specified length. The trailing spaces are removed when they are retrieved.
For example – if you declare a variable of char [7] data type, then it will always take 7 bytes of data regardless of whether you are storing 1 character or 7 characters, which means you can store maximum of 7 characters in the column.
What is Varchar?
Varchar, as the name suggests, is a variable-length data type which can contain any type of data with the length varying from 0 to 65,535. Varchar field can store values of any size up to a certain limit, depending on the database. It can be defined either in programming languages or on the database level. The size of the varchar field can be anything from zero to the maximum declared field length.
To declare a variable character, the ‘varchar’ keyword is used. Varchar takes a variable space, which means it will use only the number of bytes equal to the number of characters. It helps in avoiding the waste of space as it only utilizes the space required for the size of the string. In some programming languages and database systems, any extra space is removed automatically from the database.
For example – if you declare a variable of varchar [10], it will use the number of bytes equal to the number of characters. So, if you’re storing only one character, then it will take only one byte and if you’re storing 10 characters, it will take 10 bytes, thus avoiding wastage of database space.
Difference between Char and Varchar
- Data Type
‘Char’ is a fixed-length data type which is used to store character string value of fixed length, whereas ‘Varchar’ is a variable-length data type which is used to store variable length alphanumeric data.
- Storage Size
The storage size of the character value is equal to the maximum size of this column that you declare while creating the table. On the other hand, the storage size of the varchar value is the actual length of the data entered, not the maximum size for this column.
- Data Entries
You can use char when the data entries in a column are expected to be the same size, while on the contrary, varchar can be used when the data entries in a column are expected to vary in size.
- Memory Allocation
Char uses static memory allocation while varchar uses dynamic memory allocation
- Length
The length of a char variable can be of any value from 0 to 255, while the length of varchar variable ranges from 0 to 65,535.
- Application
Data entries are consistent in char which is used for storing data like phone numbers, whereas varchar is used for storing varying data like addresses.
Char vs. Varchar
| Char | Varchar |
| Used to store character string value of fixed length. | Used to store alphanumeric data of variable length. |
| The length varies from 0 to 255. | The length varies from 0 to 65,535. |
| Takes 1 byte per character for storage. | Takes 1 byte per character plus 1 or 2 extra bytes for storing length information. |
| The storage size of char is the same as declared. | The storage size of varchar depends on the specific string stored. |
| Uses static memory allocation. | Uses dynamic memory allocation. |
| 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. |
| It only accepts characters. | It accepts both characters and numbers. |
| It’s 50 percent faster than Varchar. | It’s slower than Char. |
| The storage size of the char value is equal to the maximum size for the column. | The storage size of the varchar value is equal to the actual length of the data entered, not the maximum size for the column. |
Summary
- Both ‘Char’ and ‘Varchar’ are data types in programming languages and database systems that share some common traits in terms of functionality and technicality. However, they differ considerably like the way they are stored and retrieved.
- While char actually refers to character, varchar refers to variable character. As the name suggests, char is a fixed-length data type while varchar is a variable-length data type.
- Char takes up to 1 byte per character, whereas varchar also takes up to 1 byte per character plus extra 1 or 2 bytes to store length information. For char, the length varies from 0 to 255 and for varchar, it can be anything between 0 and 65,535.
- As char is fixed-length, any remaining space in the field is padded with blanks. Varchar, on the other hand, is variable-length so it holds only the characters you assign to it.
- Remaining characters are padded with white spaces when the values are stored in ‘char’ fields, whereas ‘varchar’ doesn’t add extra spaces when you provide the less data than specified length.
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Sagar
Khillar is a prolific content/article/blog writer working as a Senior Content Developer/Writer in a reputed client services firm based in India. He has that urge to research on versatile topics and develop high-quality content to make it the best read. Thanks to his passion for writing, he has over 7 years of professional experience in writing and editing services across a wide variety of print and electronic platforms.
Outside his professional life, Sagar loves to connect with people
from different cultures and origin. You can say he is curious by nature. He believes everyone is a learning experience and it brings a certain excitement, kind of a curiosity to keep going. It may feel silly at first, but it loosens you up after a while and makes it easier for you to start conversations with total strangers – that’s what he said."
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Khillar, S. [2017, September 27]. Difference Between Char and Varchar. Difference Between Similar Terms and Objects.
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Khillar, Sagar. "Difference Between Char and Varchar." Difference Between Similar Terms and Objects, 27 September, 2017, //www.differencebetween.net/technology/difference-between-char-and-varchar/.