SQL Server Data Types
SQL Data Types are very useful while working with the SQL statements. Before learning about DDL statements, we need to learn Data Types which will help us in understanding DDL statements better. In my next post I want to discuss about DDL statements in SQL. So, I am discussing SQL Data Types in this post as these are essential to learn DDL.
String types:
| Data type | Description | Storage |
|---|---|---|
| char(n) | Fixed width character string. Maximum 8,000 characters | Defined width |
| varchar(n) | Variable width character string. Maximum 8,000 characters | 2 bytes + number of chars |
| varchar(max) | Variable width character string. Maximum 1,073,741,824 characters | 2 bytes + number of chars |
| text | Variable width character string. Maximum 2GB of text data | 4 bytes + number of chars |
| nchar | Fixed width Unicode string. Maximum 4,000 characters | Defined width x 2 |
| nvarchar | Variable width Unicode string. Maximum 4,000 characters | |
| nvarchar(max) | Variable width Unicode string. Maximum 536,870,912 characters | |
| ntext | Variable width Unicode string. Maximum 2GB of text data | |
| bit | Allows 0, 1, or NULL | |
| binary(n) | Fixed width binary string. Maximum 8,000 bytes | |
| varbinary | Variable width binary string. Maximum 8,000 bytes | |
| varbinary(max) | Variable width binary string. Maximum 2GB | |
| image | Variable width binary string. Maximum 2GB |
| Data type | Description | Storage |
|---|---|---|
| tinyint | Allows whole numbers from 0 to 255 | 1 byte |
| smallint | Allows whole numbers between -32,768 and 32,767 | 2 bytes |
| int | Allows whole numbers between -2,147,483,648 and 2,147,483,647 | 4 bytes |
| bigint | Allows whole numbers between -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 and 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 | 8 bytes |
| decimal(p,s) | Fixed precision and scale numbers. 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 | 5-17 bytes |
| numeric(p,s) | Fixed precision and scale numbers. 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 | 5-17 bytes |
| smallmoney | Monetary data from -214,748.3648 to 214,748.3647 | 4 bytes |
| money | Monetary data from -922,337,203,685,477.5808 to 922,337,203,685,477.5807 | 8 bytes |
| float(n) | Floating precision number data from -1.79E + 308 to 1.79E + 308.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. | 4 or 8 bytes |
| real | Floating precision number data from -3.40E + 38 to 3.40E + 38 | 4 bytes |
| Data type | Description | Storage |
|---|---|---|
| datetime | From January 1, 1753 to December 31, 9999 with an accuracy of 3.33 milliseconds | 8 bytes |
| datetime2 | From January 1, 0001 to December 31, 9999 with an accuracy of 100 nanoseconds | 6-8 bytes |
| smalldatetime | From January 1, 1900 to June 6, 2079 with an accuracy of 1 minute | 4 bytes |
| date | Store a date only. From January 1, 0001 to December 31, 9999 | 3 bytes |
| time | Store a time only to an accuracy of 100 nanoseconds | 3-5 bytes |
| datetimeoffset | The same as datetime2 with the addition of a time zone offset | 8-10 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 |
| Data type | Description |
|---|---|
| sql_variant | Stores up to 8,000 bytes of data of various data types, except text, ntext, and timestamp |
| uniqueidentifier | Stores a globally unique identifier (GUID) |
| 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 |
