Re: Magic of varchar2

milind.namjoshi_at_trans.ge.com wrote:
> What difference does it make :
>
> 1. I define a column as varchar2(500) and store only 10 bytes
>
> 2. I define that column as varchar2(10) .
>
> Any impact on storage / performance ?
>
> My data is static no updates happen once the data is inserted. So no
> row chaining.

There is no row chaining if your row size < available space in an empty block. What you meant to say was you'll have no row migration, which is different. If the maximum length of the values for that column never exceed 10 characters then it's not the best practice to declare a varchar2{500) to store those values. That being said I don't know of any reason to expect either definition to impact performance or storage given your scenario (no column value is greater than 10 characters). But why make the barn 50 times larger than you need?

David Fitzjarrell Received on Tue Mar 14 2006 - 19:09:24 CST