Re: limit of varchar2

Jim Kennedy wrote:

> You can only fit 4000 bytes in a varchar2 column. You may have multiple
> varchar2 columns each with 4000 bytes. That said, if you have a database
> block size of 8K and you have 4 varchar2 fields and each has 4000 bytes of
> data then you will cause chaining (since it can't all fit in on database
> block). Your application won't have to do anything special to get the data;
> it just means the server works harder doing multiple IO's for that row. If
> you need a very large character column then I would use a CLOB. It can
> store the data out of line so you don't get chaining. It depends upon your
> needs.
>
> Jim

Thanks Jim, but what does '4000 bytes per row' means? I am just trying to understand why Oracle said that while we can create more than 4000 bytes per row?
Also, when do consider a character column to be very large and consider using CLOB? thanks,
Zeyad

>
>
> --
> Our new email address is kennedy-family_at_home.com
> .
> "Zeyad S" <sweidanz_at_yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:3B0370B6.36993F3C_at_yahoo.com...
> > Folks,
> > In Oracle documentation, specifically Application Developer's Guide,
> > they mention the following:
> >
> > Varchar2(size) Variable for each row, up to 4000 bytes per row. consider
> > the character ser(one-byte or multibyte) before setting size.
> >
> > My question is: is the 4000 bytes is really the maximum bytes per row or
> > there is something misleading here? I tried it and create a table with
> > more than two fields one with varchar2(4000) and the other with
> > varchar2(200) without any problem. Also i inserted two records and
> > retieved them without any problem.
> >
> > Am I missunderstanding something here? and when should i consider using
> > CLOB datatypes?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Zeyad
> >
> >
> >
Received on Fri May 18 2001 - 03:11:48 CDT