CBSE · 083Class XII · 2023Section B2 marks
Question 25(1)
30 March 2023 · Computer Science (083)
Differentiate between CHAR and VARCHAR data types in SQL with appropriate example.
Answer
CHAR is a fixed-length string type. Declaring CHAR(10) always reserves space for 10 characters; shorter values are padded with spaces on the right.
VARCHAR is a variable-length string type. Declaring VARCHAR(30) allows up to 30 characters but only uses the bytes needed for the actual data.
Example: To store 'India' — CHAR(20) occupies 20 bytes, whereas VARCHAR(20) occupies only about 5 bytes.
Explanation
CHAR uses fixed storage with padding; VARCHAR uses only the storage required by the actual value.