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Asked: 2026-05-18T01:06:42+00:00

I have a table with a field that needs to store 512 characters. My

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I have a table with a field that needs to store 512 characters. My question is this: can you limit the length of a TEXT field (VARCHAR stops at 255 – I can’t use it) to 512 characters? If I do that, will MySQL run through the table quicker due to the fixed data length, or does it act a bit like VARCHAR in that the length can vary?

I don’t have a table (at all) yet, but I’m very conscious about speed and size for the future. I found this article: link text incredibly useful – maybe you will to!

Thanks a lot,

James

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Update your mysql server. Since 5.0.3 you can store up to 65535 bytes in VARCHAR.

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