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All Forums  SQL Server 2000 Forums  SQL Server Development (2000)  Length of VarChar Key vs. Performance

Author  Topic  SKIBUM Starting Member 32 Posts Posted - 2001-11-05 : 15:01:56 All: I'm creating a table that will contain 3 columns: TypeID (primary key), TypeName, and DateCreated. I have a question regarding TypeID. Would there be any noticeable lookup performance on this table if I was to make TypeID (the key) a varchar(4) datatype vs. a char(1) datatype. My thinking here is that it would be nice to make the Primary key a 4 letter abbreviation ('CORP' vs. 'C') so that it's easily readable as a forgein key throughout the rest of the database. However, if it would cause any performance issues, I'd rather not. I hope this makes sense. Thanks, and I'm not starting a debate over what a primary key should be :)