<primary>varchar</primary>

</indexterm>

<indexterm zone="datatype-character">

<primary>bpchar</primary>

</indexterm>

<table id="datatype-character-table">

<title>Character Types</title>

<tgroup cols="2">

<entry>variable-length with limit</entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry><type>character(<replaceable>n</replaceable>)</type>, <type>char(<replaceable>n</replaceable>)</type></entry>

<entry><type>character(<replaceable>n</replaceable>)</type>, <type>char(<replaceable>n</replaceable>)</type>, <type>bpchar(<replaceable>n</replaceable>)</type></entry>

<entry>fixed-length, blank padded</entry>

</row>

<row>

error, unless the excess characters are all spaces, in which case

the string will be truncated to the maximum length. (This somewhat

bizarre exception is required by the <acronym>SQL</acronym>

standard.) If the string to be stored is shorter than the declared

standard.)

However, if one explicitly casts a value to <type>character

varying(<replaceable>n</replaceable>)</type> or

<type>character(<replaceable>n</replaceable>)</type>, then an over-length

value will be truncated to <replaceable>n</replaceable> characters without

raising an error. (This too is required by the

<acronym>SQL</acronym> standard.)

If the string to be stored is shorter than the declared

length, values of type <type>character</type> will be space-padded;

values of type <type>character varying</type> will simply store the

shorter

string.

</para>

<para>

If one explicitly casts a value to <type>character

varying(<replaceable>n</replaceable>)</type> or

<type>character(<replaceable>n</replaceable>)</type>, then an over-length

value will be truncated to <replaceable>n</replaceable> characters without

raising an error. (This too is required by the

<acronym>SQL</acronym> standard.)

In addition, <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> provides the

<type>text</type> type, which stores strings of any length.

Although the <type>text</type> type is not in the

<acronym>SQL</acronym> standard, several other SQL database

management systems have it as well.

<type>text</type> is <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>'s native

string data type, in that most built-in functions operating on strings

are declared to take or return <type>text</type> not <type>character

varying</type>. For many purposes, <type>character varying</type>

acts as though it were a <link linkend="domains">domain</link>

over <type>text</type>.

</para>

<para>

The notations <type>varchar(<replaceable>n</replaceable>)</type> and

<type>char(<replaceable>n</replaceable>)</type> are aliases for <type>character

varying(<replaceable>n</replaceable>)</type> and

<type>character(<replaceable>n</replaceable>)</type>, respectively.

If specified, the length must be greater than zero and cannot exceed

10485760.

<type>character</type> without length specifier is equivalent to

<type>character(1)</type>. If <type>character varying</type> is used

without length specifier, the type accepts strings of any size. The

latter is a <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> extension.

The type name <type>varchar</type> is an alias for <type>character

varying</type>, while <type>char</type> and <type>bpchar</type> are

aliases for <type>character</type>.

The <type>varchar</type> and <type>char</type> aliases are defined in

the <acronym>SQL</acronym> standard, but <type>bpchar</type> is

a <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> extension.

</para>

<para>

In addition, <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> provides the

<type>text</type> type, which stores strings of any length.

Although the type <type>text</type> is not in the

<acronym>SQL</acronym> standard, several other SQL database

management systems have it as well.

If specified, the length <replaceable>n</replaceable> must be greater

than zero and cannot exceed 10485760.

<type>character</type> without length specifier is equivalent to

<type>character(1)</type>. If <type>character varying</type> is used

without length specifier, the type accepts strings of any size. The

latter behavior is a <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> extension.

</para>

<para>