Home Forums Database Design Design Ideas and Questions Field Sizes in Staging database : all varchar(2000)? RE: Field Sizes in Staging database : all varchar(2000)?

  • July 19, 2012 at 12:58 pm

    #1515116

    lokeshvij (7/19/2012)

    Short and simple answer:

    If your flat file is fixed width (delimited) use CHAR data type else use VARCHAR

    I am not sure I agree with that. What if your fixed-width data file contains lines more than 8000 bytes wide? Second, it could be considered a waste of space to have a staging table use CHAR columns when most of the data values have trailing blank spaces. I am all for using the right data type for the data when discussing destination tables but in staging tables all bets are off. I am not sure we need to match CHAR to fixed-width files. VARCHAR would be my default choice for a staging table.

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