Re: VARCHAR vs TEXT

> On Wed, 10 Oct 2001, Aasmund Midttun Godal wrote:
> 
> > I am sure this question has been answered in some form or another
> > before, but I can't really find anything on exactly this issue.
> > 
> > Are there any differences between varchar and text other than
> > 
> > 1. varchar has limited size
> > 2. varchar is SQL 92 text is not?
> > 
> > Especially regarding performance.
> > 
> > Or am I correct to assume that if you need a place to store some text,
> > and you are not sure how much (like an email address or a name) you
> > are best off using text?
> 
> Pretty much yes.  text and varchar are pretty equivalent other than
> the fact that varchar specifies a maximum size.

I have added the following paragraph to the FAQ:
   <P>CHAR() is best when storing strings that are usually the   same length.  VARCHAR() is best when storing
variable-lengthstrings,   but you want to limit how long a string can be.  TEXT is for strings   of unlimited length,
maximum1 gigabyte.  BYTEA is for storing   binary data, particularly values that include NULL bytes.</P>
 

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