What are the Maximum Length Limits for VARCHAR and How Can They Be Overcome in MySQL?

Understanding MySQL VARCHAR Max Size

MySQL limits the maximum size of a VARCHAR column based on its internal row size limit. Prior to MySQL 5.0.3, this limit was 255 characters; starting from 5.0.3, it was increased to 65,535 characters. However, this limit is subject to other factors, including character sets and row size.

Factors Affecting VARCHAR Max Size

Apart from the row size limit, the character set used also determines the effective maxlength of a VARCHAR column. Multi-byte character sets like UTF-8 and UTF-8mb4 impose lower limits due to their larger storage requirements.

Overcoming Row Size Limit

To accommodate longer data strings beyond the row size limit, MySQL offers TEXT types such as TINYTEXT, TEXT, MEDIUMTEXT, and LONGTEXT. These types have no practical length limits and are designed for storing large text amounts.

BLOB and TEXT Data Types

BLOB (Binary Large OBject) and TEXT data types are specifically used for storing large binary or character data, respectively. BLOB types include TINYBLOB (up to 255 bytes), BLOB (up to 65KB), MEDIUMBLOB (up to 16MB), and LONGBLOB (up to 4GB). TEXT types likewise range from TINYTEXT to LONGTEXT, with the respective maximum size limits.

Additional Resources

For further information on data type storage requirements and limits, refer to the following references:

• MySQL v8.0 Blob Types (https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/blob.html)
• MySQL v5.7 Blob Types (https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/blob.html)
• MySQL v5.6 Blob Types (https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.6/en/blob.html)
• MySQL Data Type Storage Requirements (https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/data-types.html)

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