What can be the maximum value of 'n' in VARCHAR(n)?

Question

What can be the maximum value of n in VARCHAR( n )?

Manav Pandya · Answer

Hello Yes you can use this , but its not recommended to use in real time scenario Reason is that if you provide n number of value to column and not providing sufficient value than extra space will be un-useful or empty Which is bad habit to follow , so in this case you can specify appropriate number of maximum value to any type would be baneficial Like : First name nvarchar(60) // May not reach upto 60 chars OR If you want maximum value than you can specify : FirstName nvarchar(MAX); // takes max size and empty if not provided sufficient value So its recommended to use space wisely , which indirectly help you in performance Thanks

Harish Rawat · Answer

It can store maximum 8000 Non-Unicode characters. So n varies from 1 to 8000

Raghavendar Swaminathan · Answer

Hi Gajanan, Varchar(n) - Till that specific length your value can hold the data. It can be used for the fixed values. Maximum - 8,000 Characters https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/t-sql/data-types/char-and-varchar-transact-sql

Shahriar Nikkhah · Answer

don't rush into chooseing a data type when dealing with large amount of data FYI https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/sqlserver/en-US/47bfe0ed-daf0-4cd3-bfbd-ca0c17044853/which-is-best-in-performance-char-or-varchar?forum=sqlgetstarted

Rafnas T P · Answer

hi, there is best answer in msdn forum pls check below link https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/sqlserver/en-US/4d9c6504-496e-45ba-a7a3-ed5bed731fcc/varcharmax-vs-varchar255?forum=sqlgetstarted and I think there are many versions of sql server, so there may be different of sizes for maximum

What can be the maximum value of 'n' in VARCHAR(n)?

Answers (5)