Varchar

{{Short description|Set of character data in a database}}

A VARCHAR or variable character field is a set of character data of indeterminate length. The term varchar refers to a data type of a field (or column) in a database which can hold letters and numbers. Varchar fields can be of any size up to a limit, which varies by databases: an Oracle 11g database has a limit of 4000 bytes,{{cite web|url=https://docs.oracle.com/cd/B28359_01/server.111/b28318/datatype.htm#i1835|title=Database Concepts|website=docs.oracle.com}} a MySQL 5.7 database has a limit of 65,535 bytes (for the entire row){{cite web|url=https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/char.html|title=MySQL :: MySQL 5.7 Reference Manual :: 11.4.1 The CHAR and VARCHAR Types|website=dev.mysql.com}} and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 has a limit of 8000 bytes (unless varchar(max) is used, which has a maximum storage capacity of 2 gigabytes).{{cite web|url=https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms176089.aspx|title=char and varchar (Transact-SQL)|last=edmacauley|website=msdn.microsoft.com|date=6 June 2024 }}

nvarchar is a variation of varchar,[https://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/4322/sql-server-differences-of-char-nchar-varchar-and-nvarchar-data-types/ SQL Server differences of char, nchar, varchar and nvarchar data types] and which is more suitable depends on the use case.{{clarify|date=June 2021}}