NCHAR vs CHAR: SQL Data Types Compared

1 year ago
Benjamin Taylor
2 minutes

In SQL, both NCHAR and CHAR data types are used to store fixed-length character data, but they have some differences between them.

  1. storage space:
  2. The CHAR data type is fixed in length and will use the specified length to store data. If the stored data is shorter than the specified length, spaces will be added after the data to reach the specified length.
  3. The NCHAR data type is also fixed-length, but it is used to store Unicode character data. Due to the larger storage space needed for Unicode characters, the NCHAR data type occupies more space compared to CHAR.
  4. Character encoding:
  5. The CHAR data type stores ASCII characters, while the NCHAR data type stores Unicode characters.
  6. Usage scenarios:
  7. CHAR data type can be used when there is a need to store non-Unicode characters or when there are limitations on storage space.
  8. If you need to store Unicode characters or have specific character encoding requirements for your data, you can use the NCHAR data type.

In general, NCHAR is a data type used for storing Unicode character data, which takes up more storage space than CHAR and is suitable for storing multilingual or special characters. On the other hand, CHAR is better suited for storing ASCII character data.

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