SQL: Visual QuickStart Guide

Character String Types

Use character string data types to represent text. A character string, or just string, has these characteristics:

• It’s an ordered sequence of zero or more characters.

• Its length can be fixed or varying.

• It’s case-sensitive ('A' comes before 'a' when sorted).

• In SQL statements, a string literal is surrounded by single quotes.

• It’s one of the types listed in Table 3.5.

Table 3.5. Character String Types

TYPE	DESCRIPTION
CHARACTER	Represents a fixed number of characters. A string stored in a column defined as CHARACTER(length) can have up to length characters, where length is a number (integer) greater than or equal to 1; the maximum length depends on the DBMS. When you store a string with fewer than length characters in a CHARACTER( ...