The data type of a column defines what value the column can hold: integer,
character, money, date and time, binary, and so on.
SQL Data Types
Each column in a database table is required to have a name and a data type.
An SQL developer must decide what type of data that will be stored inside each
column when creating a table. The data type is a guideline for SQL to
understand what type of data is expected inside of each column, and it also
identifies how SQL will interact with the stored data.
MySQL Data Types (Version 8.0)
In MySQL there are three main data types: string, numeric, and date and time.
String Data Types
Data type Description
CHAR(size) A FIXED length string (can contain letters,
numbers, and special characters). The size
parameter specifies the column length in characters
- can be from 0 to 255. Default is 1
VARCHAR(size) A VARIABLE length string (can contain letters,
numbers, and special characters). The size
parameter specifies the maximum column length in
characters - can be from 0 to 65535
BINARY(size) Equal to CHAR(), but stores binary byte strings. The
size parameter specifies the column length in bytes.
Default is 1
VARBINARY(size) Equal to VARCHAR(), but stores binary byte strings.
The size parameter specifies the maximum column
length in bytes.
TINYBLOB For BLOBs (Binary Large Objects). Max length: 255
bytes
TINYTEXT Holds a string with a maximum length of 255
characters
TEXT(size) Holds a string with a maximum length of 65,535
bytes
BLOB(size) For BLOBs (Binary Large Objects). Holds up to
65,535 bytes of data
MEDIUMTEXT Holds a string with a maximum length of
16,777,215 characters
MEDIUMBLOB For BLOBs (Binary Large Objects). Holds up to
16,777,215 bytes of data
LONGTEXT Holds a string with a maximum length of
4,294,967,295 characters
LONGBLOB For BLOBs (Binary Large Objects). Holds up to
4,294,967,295 bytes of data
ENUM(val1, val2, val3, A string object that can have only one value,
...) chosen from a list of possible values. You can list up
to 65535 values in an ENUM list. If a value is
inserted that is not in the list, a blank value will be
inserted. The values are sorted in the order you
enter them
SET(val1, val2, val3, A string object that can have 0 or more values,
...) chosen from a list of possible values. You can list up
to 64 values in a SET list
Numeric Data Types
Data type Description
BIT(size) A bit-value type. The number of bits per value is
specified in size. The size parameter can hold a
value from 1 to 64. The default value for size is 1.
TINYINT(size) A very small integer. Signed range is from -128 to
127. Unsigned range is from 0 to 255. The size
parameter specifies the maximum display width
(which is 255)
BOOL Zero is considered as false, nonzero values are
considered as true.
BOOLEAN Equal to BOOL
SMALLINT(size) A small integer. Signed range is from -32768 to
32767. Unsigned range is from 0 to 65535. The size
parameter specifies the maximum display width
(which is 255)
MEDIUMINT(size) A medium integer. Signed range is from -8388608
to 8388607. Unsigned range is from 0 to
16777215. The size parameter specifies the
maximum display width (which is 255)
INT(size) A medium integer. Signed range is from
-2147483648 to 2147483647. Unsigned range is
from 0 to 4294967295. The size parameter
specifies the maximum display width (which is 255)
INTEGER(size) Equal to INT(size)
BIGINT(size) A large integer. Signed range is from
-9223372036854775808 to
9223372036854775807. Unsigned range is from 0
to 18446744073709551615. The size parameter
specifies the maximum display width (which is 255)
FLOAT(size, d) A floating point number. The total number of digits
is specified in size. The number of digits after the
decimal point is specified in the d parameter. This
syntax is deprecated in MySQL 8.0.17, and it will be
removed in future MySQL versions
FLOAT(p) A floating point number. MySQL uses the p value to
determine whether to use FLOAT or DOUBLE for the
resulting data type. If p is from 0 to 24, the data
type becomes FLOAT(). If p is from 25 to 53, the
data type becomes DOUBLE()
DOUBLE(size, d) A normal-size floating point number. The total
number of digits is specified in size. The number of
digits after the decimal point is specified in the d
parameter
DOUBLE
PRECISION(size, d)
DECIMAL(size, d) An exact fixed-point number. The total number of
digits is specified in size. The number of digits after
the decimal point is specified in the d parameter.
The maximum number for size is 65. The maximum
number for d is 30. The default value for size is 10.
The default value for d is 0.
DEC(size, d) Equal to DECIMAL(size,d)
Note: All the numeric data types may have an extra option: UNSIGNED or
ZEROFILL. If you add the UNSIGNED option, MySQL disallows negative values
for the column. If you add the ZEROFILL option, MySQL automatically also adds
the UNSIGNED attribute to the column.
Date and Time Data Types
Data type Description
DATE A date. Format: YYYY-MM-DD. The supported range
is from '1000-01-01' to '9999-12-31'
DATETIME(fsp) A date and time combination. Format: YYYY-MM-DD
hh:mm:ss. The supported range is from
'1000-01-01 00:00:00' to '9999-12-31 23:59:59'.
Adding DEFAULT and ON UPDATE in the column
definition to get automatic initialization and
updating to the current date and time
TIMESTAMP(fsp) A timestamp. TIMESTAMP values are stored as the
number of seconds since the Unix epoch
('1970-01-01 00:00:00' UTC). Format:
YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss. The supported range is
from '1970-01-01 00:00:01' UTC to '2038-01-09
03:14:07' UTC. Automatic initialization and
updating to the current date and time can be
specified using DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP and
ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP in the column
definition
TIME(fsp) A time. Format: hh:mm:ss. The supported range is
from '-838:59:59' to '838:59:59'
YEAR A year in four-digit format. Values allowed in
four-digit format: 1901 to 2155, and 0000.
MySQL 8.0 does not support year in two-digit
format.
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SQL Server Data Types
String Data Types
Data type Description Max size Storage
char(n) Fixed width 8,000 Defined width
character string characters
varchar(n) Variable width 8,000 2 bytes +
character string characters number of
chars
varchar(max) Variable width 1,073,741,824 2 bytes +
character string characters number of
chars
text Variable width 2GB of text 4 bytes +
character string data number of
chars
nchar Fixed width 4,000 Defined width
Unicode string characters x2
nvarchar Variable width 4,000
Unicode string characters
nvarchar(max) Variable width 536,870,912
Unicode string characters
ntext Variable width 2GB of text
Unicode string data
binary(n) Fixed width 8,000 bytes
binary string
varbinary Variable width 8,000 bytes
binary string
varbinary(max) Variable width 2GB
binary string
image Variable width 2GB
binary string
Numeric Data Types
Data type Description Storag
e
bit Integer that can be 0, 1, or NULL
tinyint Allows whole numbers from 0 to 255 1 byte
smallint Allows whole numbers between -32,768 and 2 bytes
32,767
int Allows whole numbers between -2,147,483,648 4 bytes
and 2,147,483,647
bigint Allows whole numbers between 8 bytes
-9,223,372,036,854,775,808 and
9,223,372,036,854,775,807
decimal(p,s) Fixed precision and scale numbers. 5-17
bytes
Allows numbers from -10^38 +1 to 10^38 –1.
The p parameter indicates the maximum total
number of digits that can be stored (both to the
left and to the right of the decimal point). p must
be a value from 1 to 38. Default is 18.
The s parameter indicates the maximum number
of digits stored to the right of the decimal point. s
must be a value from 0 to p. Default value is 0
numeric(p,s) Fixed precision and scale numbers. 5-17
bytes
Allows numbers from -10^38 +1 to 10^38 –1.
The p parameter indicates the maximum total
number of digits that can be stored (both to the
left and to the right of the decimal point). p must
be a value from 1 to 38. Default is 18.
The s parameter indicates the maximum number
of digits stored to the right of the decimal point. s
must be a value from 0 to p. Default value is 0
smallmoney Monetary data from -214,748.3648 to 4 bytes
214,748.3647
money Monetary data from -922,337,203,685,477.5808 8 bytes
to 922,337,203,685,477.5807
float(n) Floating precision number data from -1.79E + 308 4 or 8
to 1.79E + 308. bytes
The n parameter indicates whether the field
should hold 4 or 8 bytes. float(24) holds a 4-byte
field and float(53) holds an 8-byte field. Default
value of n is 53.
real Floating precision number data from -3.40E + 38 4 bytes
to 3.40E + 38
Date and Time Data Types
Data type Description Storag
e
datetime From January 1, 1753 to December 31, 9999 with 8 bytes
an accuracy of 3.33 milliseconds
datetime2 From January 1, 0001 to December 31, 9999 with 6-8
an accuracy of 100 nanoseconds bytes
smalldatetime From January 1, 1900 to June 6, 2079 with an 4 bytes
accuracy of 1 minute
date Store a date only. From January 1, 0001 to 3 bytes
December 31, 9999
time Store a time only to an accuracy of 100 3-5
nanoseconds bytes
datetimeoffset The same as datetime2 with the addition of a time 8-10
zone offset bytes
timestamp Stores a unique number that gets updated every
time a row gets created or modified. The
timestamp value is based upon an internal clock
and does not correspond to real time. Each table
may have only one timestamp variable
Other Data Types
Data type Description
sql_variant Stores up to 8,000 bytes of data of various data types,
except text, ntext, and timestamp
uniqueidentifie Stores a globally unique identifier (GUID)
r
xml Stores XML formatted data. Maximum 2GB
cursor Stores a reference to a cursor used for database operations
table Stores a result-set for later processing
MS Access Data Types
Data type Description Storag
e
Text Use for text or combinations of text and numbers.
255 characters maximum
Memo Memo is used for larger amounts of text. Stores
up to 65,536 characters. Note: You cannot sort a
memo field. However, they are searchable
Byte Allows whole numbers from 0 to 255 1 byte
Integer Allows whole numbers between -32,768 and 2 bytes
32,767
Long Allows whole numbers between -2,147,483,648 4 bytes
and 2,147,483,647
Single Single precision floating-point. Will handle most 4 bytes
decimals
Double Double precision floating-point. Will handle most 8 bytes
decimals
Currency Use for currency. Holds up to 15 digits of whole 8 bytes
dollars, plus 4 decimal places. Tip: You can choose
which country's currency to use
AutoNumber AutoNumber fields automatically give each record 4 bytes
its own number, usually starting at 1
Date/Time Use for dates and times 8 bytes
Yes/No A logical field can be displayed as Yes/No, 1 bit
True/False, or On/Off. In code, use the constants
True and False (equivalent to -1 and 0). Note: Null
values are not allowed in Yes/No fields
Ole Object Can store pictures, audio, video, or other BLOBs up to
(Binary Large Objects) 1GB
Hyperlink Contain links to other files, including web pages
Lookup Wizard Let you type a list of options, which can then be 4 bytes
chosen from a drop-down list
