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SQL Common Data Types

Data types define the kind of values stored in a column.

SQL Common Data Types

Each column in a database table requires a name and a data type. Each column in a database table is required to have a name and a data type.

SQL developers must decide what type of data will be stored in each column when creating an SQL table. A data type is a label and a guideline for SQL to understand what kind of data is expected in each column, and it also identifies how SQL will interact with the stored data.

The following table lists common data types in SQL:

Data Type Description
CHARACTER(n) Character/string. Fixed length n.
VARCHAR(n) or <br>CHARACTER VARYING(n) Character/string. Variable length. Maximum length n.
BINARY(n) Binary string. Fixed length n.
BOOLEAN Stores TRUE or FALSE values
VARBINARY(n) or <br>BINARY VARYING(n) Binary string. Variable length. Maximum length n.
INTEGER(p) Integer value (no decimal point). Precision p.
SMALLINT Integer value (no decimal point). Precision 5.
INTEGER Integer value (no decimal point). Precision 10.
BIGINT Integer value (no decimal point). Precision 19.
DECIMAL(p,s) Exact numeric value, precision p, scale s. For example, decimal(5,2) is a number with 3 digits before the decimal point and 2 digits after.
NUMERIC(p,s) Exact numeric value, precision p, scale s. (Same as DECIMAL)
FLOAT(p) Approximate numeric value, mantissa precision p. A floating-point number using base-10 exponent notation. The size parameter consists of a single number that specifies the minimum precision.
REAL Approximate numeric value, mantissa precision 7.
FLOAT Approximate numeric value, mantissa precision 16.
DOUBLE PRECISION Approximate numeric value, mantissa precision 16.
DATE Stores year, month, and day values.
TIME Stores hour, minute, and second values.
TIMESTAMP Stores year, month, day, hour, minute, and second values.
INTERVAL Consists of several integer fields representing a period of time, depending on the interval type.
ARRAY Fixed-length ordered collection of elements
MULTISET Variable-length unordered collection of elements
XML Stores XML data

SQL Data Types Quick Reference

However, different databases offer different choices for data type definitions.

The following table shows the common names of some data types on various database platforms:

Data Type Access SQLServer Oracle MySQL PostgreSQL
boolean Yes/No Bit Byte N/A Boolean
integer Number (integer) Int Number Int <br>Integer Int <br>Integer
float Number (single) Float <br>Real Number Float Numeric
currency Currency Money N/A N/A Money
string (fixed) N/A Char Char Char Char
string (variable) Text (<256) <br>Memo (65k+) Varchar Varchar <br>Varchar2 Varchar Varchar
binary object OLE Object Memo Binary (fixed up to 8K) <br>Varbinary (<8K) <br>Image (<2GB) Long <br>Raw Blob <br>Text Binary <br>Varbinary

| | Note: In different databases, the same data type may have different names. Even if the names are the same, the size and other details may vary! <br>Always check the documentation! | | --- | --- |

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