mysql m indicates_MySQL Datatypes

Each column in a table is made of a data type. There are

three general types of columns then, numeric types, date and

time types, and string (character) types. In the examples

below, I will only show the most commonly used data types.

More information can be found at

http://www.mysql.com/Manual_chapter/manual_Reference.html

M - Indicates the maximum display size. The maximum legal

display size is 255.

Numeric Types

INT[(M)]

A normal-size integer. The signed range is -2147483648 to

2147483647. The unsigned range is 0 to 4294967295.

Example:

Age INT;

This would be a valid integer if it is within the

-2147483648 to 2147483647 values if it is unsigned, which it

would be of course as no one is younger or older then those

numbers... obviously.

FLOAT[(M,D)]

A small (single-precision) floating-point number. Cannot be

unsigned. Allowable values are -3.402823466E+38 to

-1.175494351E-38, 0 and 1.175494351E-38 to 3.402823466E+38.

Floating point numbers are made to be very precise. If I

specified Price FLOAT(6,2) then 6 numbers would be allowed

to the left of the decimal point, and 2 to the right. Very

nice indeed.

Date and Time

DATE

A date. The supported range is '1000-01-01' to '9999-12-31'.

MySQL displays DATE values in 'YYYY-MM-DD' format, but

allows you to assign values to DATE columns using either

strings or numbers.

Example:

Today DATE;

TIME

A time. The range is '-838:59:59' to '838:59:59'. MySQL

displays TIME values in 'HH:MM:SS' format, but allows you to

assign values to TIME columns using either strings or

numbers.

Example:

Now TIME;

String Types

CHAR(M)

CHAR's are fixed length strings that are right-padded with

space to whatever you specify the length as in M. If you

specify a data type as Name CHAR(60), and the entry is only

20 characters in length, then the entry would be padded with

40 characters worth of spaces. These spaces will be removed

when the value is retrieved though. These entries will be

sorted and compared by MySQL in case-insensitive fashions

unless you give the BINARY keyword.... The maximum size is

255 characters.

Example:

Name CHAR(60);

VARCHAR(M)

These strings are made of variable lengths (as the name

kind of suggests). All of the trailing spaces will be

removed when the value is stored in the database. This is great for

when you have limited hard drive space, but it can be a

problem performance-wise. You can lose up to 50% of speed

because of this. The explanation is that it actually loads

the maximum length in anyway, and stores everything into

memory. This causes the lag in performance. The maximum size

is 255 characters.

Example:

Name VARCHAR(60);

BLOB or

TEXT

BLOB or TEXT columns have a maximum length of 65535 (2^16 -

1) (BIG). They can hold text, obviously of course, and are

good at keeping large records, such as articles. The

difference is that BLOB searches are case sensitive, while

TEXT searches are case in-sensitive. These are used when

your record size is between 255 and 65535 characters.