MySQL: enum or char(1)? Oct12 '04
In a recent table creation, in MySQL, I ran into a situation that could go one of two ways.
The field I want to create will only contain a single letter. That letter is simply any letter of the alphabet. There are 26 letters total, and only one is chosen to be stored in that field.
In MySQL, which column type should be used?
An enum column type, with an option for each letter of the alphabet?
enum('a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h','i','j','k','l','m','n','o','p',
'q','r','s','t','u','v','w','x','y','z');
Or... a char column type, with a character limit of 1?
char(1);
What do you think?
Categories: SQL 
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Thanks for the link and feedback. You're right, though. It's barely worth consideration. It's not going to affect anything drastically. Ther ... Read more.
Because I'm lazy, and can't be bothered looking it up, is enum case sensitive, or could you have got away with using the column type you specified ... Read more.
Josh, enum is NOT case sensitive. But you bring up a good point. I will have to look into that. ... Read more.
Actually, enum can be case sensitive. When retrieved, values stored into an ENUM column are displayed usi ... Read more.
Nice blockquote style! ... Read more.
Haha this is pretty late feedback. CHAR can be any character. Which include numbers, etc... ... Read more.
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You should read this (if you haven't already), mainly the comments. http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/ENUM.html enum column type allo ... Read more.