VARCHAR2(1) vs VARCHAR(2)

From: Wayne S Bellefeuille <wbellefe_at_allina.com>
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2001 16:07:26 -0600
Message-Id: <10739.126583@fatcity.com>

Our group was told a while back (from a consultant) that whenever we have a character column with a length of 1, we should still define the column with a length of 2. The reason given was that "Oracle works better" with 2-character columns rather than 1-character columns.

Therefore, there is a "standard" here to define our 1-character columns as VARCHAR2(2). I think this is very misleading to the users and I was wondering if there was any basis for this decision.

I am assuming it is centered around the fact that CHAR(1) and CHAR(2) supposedly both take up the same amount of storage, but I am not sure.

Anyone know anything about this subject? Any reason I should not change the "standard" to VARCHAR2(1) for 1-character columns?

Wayne Bellefeuille Received on Fri Jan 12 2001 - 16:07:26 CST