What's the difference between VARCHAR and CHAR?

What's the difference between VARCHAR and CHAR in MySQL?

I am trying to store MD5 hashes.

Solution 1:

VARCHAR is variable-length.

CHAR is fixed length.

If your content is a fixed size, you'll get better performance with CHAR.

See the MySQL page on CHAR and VARCHAR Types for a detailed explanation (be sure to also read the comments).

Solution 2:

CHAR

1. Used to store character string value of fixed length.
2. The maximum no. of characters the data type can hold is 255 characters.
3. It's 50% faster than VARCHAR.
4. Uses static memory allocation.

VARCHAR

1. Used to store variable length alphanumeric data.
2. The maximum this data type can hold is up to
   • Pre-MySQL 5.0.3: 255 characters.
   • Post-MySQL 5.0.3: 65,535 characters shared for the row.
3. It's slower than CHAR.
4. Uses dynamic memory allocation.