Re: Newbie Question: How long can a varchar be?

In our last gripping episode adolph_mendicant_at_my-deja.com wrote:
> In article <3a1d202f.220286468_at_news.alt.net>,
> SPAMBLOCK.Maxwell_Smart_at_ThePentagon.com.SPAMBLOCK (Brian Tkatch)
> wrote:
> > On Wed, 22 Nov 2000 21:07:42 GMT, adolph_mendicant_at_my-deja.com
 wrote:
> >
> > >In article <3A1C23DD.E017B00_at_bridgewatersystems.com>,
> > > Tony Walby <tony.walby_at_bridgewatersystems.com> wrote:
> > >> Varchar2 can be 4000 characters in length max.
> > >
> > >Is Varchar2 standard SQL? I can't use Oracle extensions.
> > >
> > I believe VARCHAR is standard SQL.
>
> Yes, but is VARCHAR2?
>
> >
> > From the docs:
>
> Which docs? Oracle or SQL? I can't use VARCHAR2 unless it is
> supported on all SQL databases.
>
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>

I believe that VARCHAR2 is specific to Oracle, whereas VARCHAR is standard SQL. I also believe that the size of a VARCHAR is implementation-specific; in Oracle it is 4000 characters, however in PostGRES it is 8064 characters and in SQL Server/Sybase it is at least 4096 (up from 255). I would check the documentation specific to your implementation.

--
David Fitzjarrell
Oracle Certified DBA


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