SQL Reference Guide

Character Data Types

Refer to Character String Literals for details on specifying values to be stored in character columns.

Syntax

char_data_type ::

{ CHARACTER | CHAR } [(length)]

| { CHARACTER VARYING | CHAR VARYING | VARCHAR } [(length)]

| LVARCHAR

Arguments

• { CHARACTER | CHAR } [(length)] [ CHARACTER SET charset-name ]

  Type CHARACTER (abbreviated as CHAR) corresponds to a null terminated character string with the maximum length specified. The default length is 1. The maximum length is 65,500 bytes (before V12, it was 8,192).

• LVARCHAR

  The LVARCHAR data type corresponds to an arbitrarily long character string with a maximum length of two gigabytes (2 Gb). The LVARCHAR data type is recommended for CLOB support.

  The arbitrary size and unstructured nature of long data types (LVARCHAR/LVARBINARY) restrict where they can be used.

  • Long columns are allowed in select lists of query expressions and in INSERT and UPDATE statements.
  • INSERT statements can store data from columns of any type except LVARBINARY into a LVARCHAR column, however, LVARCHAR data cannot be stored in any other type.
  • CONTAINS predicates are the only predicates that allow LONG columns.
  • Conditional expressions, arithmetic expressions, and functions cannot specify LONG columns.
  • UPDATE statements cannot specify LONG columns.
• { CHARACTER VARYING | CHAR VARYING | VARCHAR } [(length)]

  Type CHARACTER VARYING corresponds to a variable-length character string with the maximum length specified.

  • The default length for columns defined as CHARACTER VARYING is 1. In V12 and later, the maximum length is 65,500 (before V12, it was 8,192).