On Wed, Mar 21, 2007 at 11:29:54AM -0300, Leticia wrote: > If I use "char(8000)" instead of "varchar(8000)" why there is no padding and > these three tuples are inside the same page? http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.2/interactive/datatype-character.html "The storage requirement for data of these types is 4 bytes plus the actual string, and in case of character plus the padding. Long strings are compressed by the system automatically, so the physical requirement on disk may be less. Long values are also stored in background tables so they do not interfere with rapid access to the shorter column values." See also the TOAST documentation: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.2/interactive/storage-toast.html -- Michael Fuhr