I need to store postal codes in a database. How big should the column be?

database oracle globalization postal-code
EvilTeach picture EvilTeach · Nov 28, 2008 · Viewed 86.5k times · Source

I expect the column to be a VARCHAR2, in my Oracle Database.

US Zips are 9.

Canadian is 7.

I am thinking 32 characters would be reasonable upper limit

What am I missing?

[EDIT] TIL: 12 is a reasonable answer to the question Thanks to everyone who contributed.

Answer

strager picture strager · Nov 28, 2008

Skimming through Wikipedia's Postal Codes page, 32 characters should be more than enough. I would say even 16 characters is good.

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