On Thursday 30 March 2006 21:27, Tom Lane wrote: > Chris <dmagick@xxxxxxxxx> writes: > > kurt _ wrote: > >> My question: Is a text field just a varchar(Integer.MAX_VALUE)? > > > > varchar has a max of 255 characters, > > You must be using some other database ;-) > > The current Postgres code has a physical limit of 1G bytes for any > column value (and in practice you'll hit the threshold of pain > performance-wise at much less than that). The only real difference > between type "text" and type "varchar(N)" is that you'll incur runtime > overhead checking that values assigned to varchar columns are not any > wider than the specified "N". > > My own take on this is that you should "say what you mean". If you do > not have a clear application-oriented reason for specifying a particular > limit N in varchar(N), you have no business choosing a random value of N > instead. Use text, instead of making up an N. Tom, good point. However, if you design an application that at one point _might_ need to be run on something else than postgres (say oracle or DB2), your're way better off with a varchar than text. UC -- Open Source Solutions 4U, LLC 1618 Kelly St Phone: +1 707 568 3056 Santa Rosa, CA 95401 Cell: +1 650 302 2405 United States Fax: +1 707 568 6416
