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CSK
Constraint Violating Yak Guru
489 Posts |
 Posted - 2006-06-06 : 00:58:23
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| Dear all,IN OUR PROJECT WE ARE USING CHAR DATATYPE. BUT I FEEL THE CHAR DATA TYPE IS SLOWER RATHER THAN VARCHAR.IS RIGHT. IS IT POSSIBLE TO CONVERT ALL CHAR TO VARCHAR..? IS IT RAISE ANY PROBLEMS..?ThanksKK |
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chiragkhabaria
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
1907 Posts |
Posted - 2006-06-06 : 01:47:25
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| I dont think it will raise to any hassles. Just see to it that you define a proper length for the varchar.Chirag |
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cmdr_skywalker
Posting Yak Master
159 Posts |
Posted - 2006-06-06 : 02:06:17
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| CHAR and VARCHAR have adv. and disadv. Read BOL for more info. However, using CHAR to the extreme can cause havoc. CHAR forces the allocation of the space as specified in the length declaration. VARCHAR depends on the amount. To some extent, it will. For instance, you have 1M rec using column declared as CHAR(8000). Compare this to 1M record with column declared as VARCHAR(8000) but the actual length is 8 bytes. To read 100K records, and assuming uniform distribution, the SQL Server will read 100K extent for CHAR unlike with approx. 100 extents for VARCHAR (excluding the overhead).May the Almighty God bless us all! |
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Kristen
Test
22859 Posts |
Posted - 2006-06-06 : 02:21:57
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| "I dont think it will raise to any hassles"I'd be surprised if it doesn't!Changing from fixed length, space padded, data to variable length with no trailing spaces (actually potentially with any trailing spaces that the user has chosen to enter!) sounds like a significant change that will trip up the application to me.But I only ever use CHAR for fixed length data with no trailing spaces, so I don't know how "silently" SQL Server handles the space-padding.Kristen |
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CSK
Constraint Violating Yak Guru
489 Posts |
Posted - 2006-06-06 : 02:30:11
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| Thanks Guys |
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CHAR TO VARCHAR