SQL Data Types

Data types are used to represent the nature of the data that can be stored in the
database table. For example, in a particular column of a table, if we want to store a
string type of data then we will have to declare a string data type of this column.

Data types mainly classified into three categories for every database.

○ String Data types

○ Numeric Data types

○ Date and time Data types

Data Types in MySQL, SQL Server and Oracle

MySQL Data Types

A list of data types used in MySQL database. This is based on MySQL 8.0.

MySQL String Data Types

CHAR(Size) It is used to specify a fixed length string that can contain

numbers, letters, and special characters. Its size can be 0 to

255 characters. Default is 1.

VARCHAR(Size) It is used to specify a variable length string that can contain

numbers, letters, and special characters. Its size can be from

0 to 65535 characters.

BINARY(Size) It is equal to CHAR() but stores binary byte strings. Its size

parameter specifies the column length in the bytes. Default

is 1.
VARBINARY(Size) It is equal to VARCHAR() but stores binary byte strings. Its

size parameter specifies the maximum column length in

bytes.

TEXT(Size) It holds a string that can contain a maximum length of 255

characters.

TINYTEXT It holds a string with a maximum length of 255 characters.

MEDIUMTEXT It holds a string with a maximum length of 16,777,215.

LONGTEXT It holds a string with a maximum length of 4,294,967,295

characters.

ENUM(val1, val2, It is used when a string object having only one value, chosen

val3,...) from a list of possible values. It contains 65535 values in an

ENUM list. If you insert a value that is not in the list, a blank

value will be inserted.

SET( It is used to specify a string that can have 0 or more values,

val1,val2,val3,....) chosen from a list of possible values. You can list up to 64

values at one time in a SET list.

BLOB(size) It is used for BLOBs (Binary Large Objects). It can hold up to

65,535 bytes.

MySQL Numeric Data Types

BIT(Size) It is used for a bit-value type. The number of bits per value is

specified in size. Its size can be 1 to 64. The default value is 1.

-2147483648 to 2147483647 and unsigned range varies from 0

to 4294967295. The size parameter specifies the max display

width that is 255.

INTEGER(size) It is equal to INT(size).

FLOAT(size, d) It is used to specify a floating point number. Its size parameter

specifies the total number of digits. The number of digits after

the decimal point is specified by d parameter.

FLOAT(p) It is used to specify a floating point number. MySQL used p

parameter to determine whether to use FLOAT or DOUBLE. If p

is between 0 to24, the data type becomes FLOAT (). If p is from

25 to 53, the data type becomes DOUBLE().

DOUBLE(size, d) It is a normal size floating point number. Its size parameter

specifies the total number of digits. The number of digits after

the decimal is specified by d parameter.

DECIMAL(size, It is used to specify a fixed point number. Its size parameter

d) specifies the total number of digits. The number of digits after

the decimal parameter is specified by d parameter. The

maximum value for the size is 65, and the default value is 10.

The maximum value for d is 30, and the default value is 0.

DEC(size, d) It is equal to DECIMAL(size, d).

BOOL It is used to specify Boolean values true and false. Zero is

considered as false, and nonzero values are considered as

true.
MySQL Date and Time Data Types

DATE It is used to specify date format YYYY-MM-DD. Its supported

range is from '1000-01-01' to '9999-12-31'.

DATETIME(fsp) It is used to specify date and time combination. Its format is

YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss. Its supported range is from

'1000-01-01 00:00:00' to 9999-12-31 23:59:59'.

TIMESTAMP(fsp) It is used to specify the timestamp. Its value is stored as the

number of seconds since the Unix epoch('1970-01-01

00:00:00' UTC). Its format is YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss. Its

supported range is from '1970-01-01 00:00:01' UTC to

'2038-01-09 03:14:07' UTC.

TIME(fsp) It is used to specify the time format. Its format is hh:mm:ss.

Its supported range is from '-838:59:59' to '838:59:59'

YEAR It is used to specify a year in four-digit format. Values allowed

in four digit format from 1901 to 2155, and 0000.

SQL Server Data Types

char(n) It is a fixed width character string data type. Its size can be up

to 8000 characters.

varchar(n) It is a variable width character string data type. Its size can be

up to 8000 characters.

varchar(max) It is a variable width character string data types. Its size can be

up to 1,073,741,824 characters.
 text It is a variable width character string data type. Its size can be

up to 2GB of text data.

nchar It is a fixed width Unicode string data type. Its size can be up to

4000 characters.

nvarchar It is a variable width Unicode string data type. Its size can be up

to 4000 characters.

ntext It is a variable width Unicode string data type. Its size can be up

to 2GB of text data.

binary(n) It is a fixed width Binary string data type. Its size can be up to

8000 bytes.

varbinary It is a variable width Binary string data type. Its size can be up

to 8000 bytes.

image It is also a variable width Binary string data type. Its size can be

up to 2GB.

SQL Server Numeric Data Types

bit It is an integer that can be 0, 1 or null.

tinyint It allows whole numbers from 0 to 255.

Smallint It allows whole numbers between -32,768 and 32,767.

Int It allows whole numbers between -2,147,483,648 and

2,147,483,647.
 bigint It allows whole numbers between -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 and

9,223,372,036,854,775,807.

float(n) It is used to specify floating precision number data from

-1.79E+308 to 1.79E+308. The n parameter indicates whether the

field should hold the 4 or 8 bytes. Default value of n is 53.

real It is a floating precision number data from -3.40E+38 to 3.40E+38.

money It is used to specify monetary data from

-922,337,233,685,477.5808 to 922,337,203,685,477.5807.

SQL Server Date and Time Data Type

datetime It is used to specify date and time combination. It supports range

from January 1, 1753, to December 31, 9999 with an accuracy of

3.33 milliseconds.

datetime2 It is used to specify date and time combination. It supports range

from January 1, 0001 to December 31, 9999 with an accuracy of

100 nanoseconds

date It is used to store date only. It supports range from January 1,

0001 to December 31, 9999

time It stores time only to an accuracy of 100 nanoseconds

timestamp It stores a unique number when a new row gets created or

modified. The time stamp value is based upon an internal clock

and does not correspond to real time. Each table may contain

only one-time stamp variable.

SQL Server Other Data Types

and ntext. It stores up to 8000 bytes of data.

XML It stores XML formatted data. Maximum 2GB.

cursor It stores a reference to a cursor used for database operations.

table It stores result set for later processing.

uniqueidentifier It stores GUID (Globally unique identifier).

Oracle Data Types

CHAR(size) It is used to store character data within the predefined

length. It can be stored up to 2000 bytes.

NCHAR(size) It is used to store national character data within the

predefined length. It can be stored up to 2000 bytes.

VARCHAR2(size) It is used to store variable string data within the predefined

length. It can be stored up to 4000 byte.

VARCHAR(SIZE) It is the same as VARCHAR2(size). You can also use

VARCHAR(size), but it is suggested to use VARCHAR2(size)

NVARCHAR2(size) It is used to store Unicode string data within the predefined

length. We have to must specify the size of NVARCHAR2

data type. It can be stored up to 4000 bytes.

NUMBER(p, s) It contains precision p and scale s. The precision p can range

from 1 to 38, and the scale s can range from -84 to 127.

FLOAT(p) It is a subtype of the NUMBER data type. The precision p can

range from 1 to 126.

BINARY_FLOAT It is used for binary precision( 32-bit). It requires 5 bytes,

including length byte.

BINARY_DOUBLE It is used for double binary precision (64-bit). It requires 9

bytes, including length byte.

Oracle Date and Time Data Types

DATE It is used to store a valid date-time format with a fixed length. Its

range varies from January 1, 4712 BC to December 31, 9999 AD.

TIMESTAMP It is used to store the valid date in YYYY-MM-DD with time

hh:mm:ss format.

Oracle Large Object Data Types (LOB Types)

BLOB It is used to specify unstructured binary data. Its range goes up to

232-1 bytes or 4 GB.

BFILE It is used to store binary data in an external file. Its range goes up to

232-1 bytes or 4 GB.

CLOB It is used for single-byte character data. Its range goes up to 232-1

bytes or 4 GB.
NCLOB It is used to specify single byte or fixed length multibyte national

character set (NCHAR) data. Its range is up to 232-1 bytes or 4 GB.

RAW(size) It is used to specify variable length raw binary data. Its range is up

to 2000 bytes per row. Its maximum size must be specified.

LONG RAW It is used to specify variable length raw binary data. Its range up to

231-1 bytes or 2 GB, per row.