Db2 VARCHAR

Summary: in this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use the Db2 VARCHAR data type to store variable-length character strings.

Overview of Db2 VARCHAR type

Db2 VARCHAR type is used to store variable-length character strings. To define a variable-length character string column, you use the following syntax:

In this syntax, n is a positive integer that represents the maximum length of n bytes that the column can store. n also must be greater than zero and less than 32,740.

If you need to store a string whose length is longer than this, you should use the VARBINARY(n) data type instead.

Db2 VARCHAR type examples

Let’s create a new table to demonstrate the characteristics of VARCHAR(n) data type.

This statement creates a new table named db2_varchars that has a VARCHAR(20) column:

1) Insert a string into a variable-length character string column example

The following example inserts a string into the v column of the db2_varchars table:

It worked as expected because the string Db2 Tutorial has the length which is less than 20.

However, this statement attempts to insert a string whose length is 22 into the VARCHAR(20) column and fails:

Db2 issued the following error message:

2) Insert a Unicode string into a variable-length character string column example

This example inserts a Unicode string die Prüfung into the VARCHAR(20) column of the db2_varchars table:

To view the data in the db2_varchars table, you use the following SELECT statement:

Here is the output:

In this tutorial, you have learned how to use the Db2 VARCHAR data type to store variable-length character strings.