MySQL VARCHAR size?

mysql varchar
SBSTP picture SBSTP · Aug 19, 2011 · Viewed 130.7k times · Source

I'm wondering, 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?

Answer

gbn picture gbn · Aug 19, 2011

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"

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