SQL datatype question

Josh Hillman ( (no email) )
Fri, 14 Aug 1998 12:43:13 -0400

Are there any benefits to using the MSSQL datatype of "CHAR" over
"varCHAR"? From what I read in my book here, varCHAR is the same as CHAR
except it uses potentially less memory because it doesn't tack on spaces to
the end of data that does not fill the column size. So, the column width
(data length) of the two following sets would be the same, but varCHAR data
could take up less memory:
CHAR(20)
varCHAR(20)
If CHAR has no advantages over varCHAR, then why would it exist?

Josh Hillman
hillman@talstar.com