when creating tables(and columns inside it) using MySQL gui clients there is a field called 'length' of a column. What exactly does it mean. Isn't range for a datatype (say)int fixed. Does length relate to the range of column value in anyway? Thanks.
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yes, indeed. E.g. a varchar(255) field can hold up to 255 characters.
see http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/data-types.html for all datatypes
konsolenfreddy
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Isn't range for a datatype (say)int fixed.
No - but MySQL has some predefined sizes for integers.
Does length relate to the range of column value in anyway
Yes, it sets a limit on the size of what you put in there - but don't assume its directly equivalent to the number of characters you key in (see previous link, also, this one on multibyte characters)
