| 21. 2. 1. CHAR |
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- The CHAR datatype is used to hold fixed-length character string data.
- A CHAR string always contains the maximum number of characters.
- Strings shorter than the maximum length are padded with spaces.
- The CHAR datatype typically uses 1 byte per character.
- The CHAR datatype has a maximum length of 32767 bytes.
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The Syntax for the CHAR Datatype |
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variable_name CHAR(size);
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variable_name is whatever you want to call the variable. |
size is the size, in bytes, of the string. |
Here are some examples: |
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employee_name CHAR(32);
employee_comments CHAR(10000);
employee_name := 'James Gennick';
employee_name := 'Jeff Gennick';
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Because CHAR variables are fixed length and the preceding strings are each less than 32 characters long, they will be right-padded with spaces. |
Thus the actual values in employee_name would be |
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When doing string comparisons, the trailing spaces count as part of the string. |
Oracle has one subtype defined for the CHAR datatype, and it is called CHARACTER. |
It has exactly the same meaning as CHAR. |