is there any data type of just right length?

[Guest_imported]

Hi all
Is there any data type which takes only that space which is the actual data.

For example if i reserve a field like varchar(50) for storing a address and some address only uses 25 character than all empty space will be wasted.


Is there any solution of this problem.?or is there any variable length field.?

I am using MySQL .

 

[Tim1]

Hiya,

You are using the correct data type for variable length information.....

CHAR(50) will always use 50 characters, for example, if the field contains the word "ALL", it will then be padded with 47 spaces

VARCHAR(50) will use between 0 and 50 characters. If a varchar field contains the word "ALL", it will use just 3 characters of space in the database.

Hope this is clear,

Tim