varchar

English

Etymology

From the data type name, a shortening of variable character.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈvɑːt͡ʃɑː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈvɑɹt͡ʃɑɹ/, /ˈvɛ(ə)ɹkɛ(ə)ɹ/

Noun

varchar (plural varchars)

1. (computing, databases) A text field of indeterminate length in a database, as opposed to the traditional fixed-length field.
   • 1999, David K. Rensin, Andrew M. Fedorchek, William C. Amo, Microsoft SQL Server 7 secrets:

     Be aware that varchars will in general provide slower updates but faster selects. By definition, the amount of storage they use is variable.

   • 2008, Eric Johnson, Joshua Jones, A Developer's Guide to Data Modeling for SQL Server:

     With a varchar, the storage is always the actual number of characters you have stored plus 2 bytes. So a varchar(20) with a 5-character word will take up 7 bytes, with the extra 2 bytes holding a size reference for SQL Server.