Question

Write one similarity and one difference between CHAR and VARCHAR data types.

Answer 1

CHAR

Used to store character string value of fixed length.

The maximum no. of characters the data type can hold is 255 characters.

It's 50% faster than VARCHAR.

Uses static memory allocation.

VARCHAR

Used to store variable length alphanumeric data.

The maximum this data type can hold is up to

Pre-MySQL 5.0.3: 255 characters.

Post-MySQL 5.0.3: 65,535 characters shared for the row.

It's slower than CHAR.

Uses dynamic memory allocation*.