As soon as you have a variable length column, you have variable length
rows. In this case, mysql converts your char columns to varchar to save
space and time. See the manual for the details
<http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/Silent_column_changes.html>.
Michael
Philip Walden wrote:
> I have MySQL 4.1.1-1. Given the create statement:
>
> create table supp
> (
> supp_cd char(5) not null,
> supp_nm varchar(48) not null,
> supp_abbr char(4) not null,
> supp_stat varchar(32) not null,
> sz_tp_class_cd char(2) not null,
> ownrshp_class_cd char(2) not null,
> city_nm varchar(32) not null,
> geog_area_nm varchar(32) not null,
> cnty_cd char(2) not null,
> dunn_bradstreet_no char(10) not null,
> updt_user_id smallint not null,
> updt_dt date not null,
> create_dt date not null,
> constraint p1supp primary key (supp_cd)
> ) type = InnoDB;
>
> A descibe shows that supp_cd, supp_abbr and dunn_bradstreet_no are being
> added as a varchar() instead of a char(). Any ideas as what is wrong?
> Looks like a parsing error.
>
> mysql> describe supp;
> +--------------------+-------------+------+-----+------------+-------+
> | Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
> +--------------------+-------------+------+-----+------------+-------+
> | supp_cd | varchar(5) | | PRI | | |
> | supp_nm | varchar(48) | | | | |
> | supp_abbr | varchar(4) | | | | |
> | supp_stat | varchar(32) | | | | |
> | sz_tp_class_cd | char(2) | | | | |
> | ownrshp_class_cd | char(2) | | | | |
> | city_nm | varchar(32) | | | | |
> | geog_area_nm | varchar(32) | | | | |
> | cnty_cd | char(2) | | | | |
> | dunn_bradstreet_no | varchar(10) | | | | |
> | updt_user_id | smallint(6) | | | 0 | |
> | updt_dt | date | | | 0000-00-00 | |
> | create_dt | date | | | 0000-00-00 | |
> +--------------------+-------------+------+-----+------------+-------+
> 13 rows in set (0.01 sec)
>
>
>
>
