ORACLE DATATYPES

DATATYPE DESCRIPTION: ORACLE 7 RANGE: ORACLE 8 RANGE:

CHAR
Fixed-length character strings
(Holds NLS Data) 1-255 Bytes 1-2,000 Bytes

VARCHAR and
VARCHAR2
Variable-length character strings
(Holds NLS Data) Up To 2,000 Bytes Up To 4,000 Bytes

LONG
Variable-length character strings Up To 2 GB Up To 2 GB

NUMBER
Packed Decimal Values
P=Precision (Total # of Digits)
S=Scale (Where Rounding Occurs) Up To 21 Bytes Up To 21 Bytes

BINARY_INTEGER
Signed Binary Numbers

PLS_INTEGER
Signed Binary Numbers
Less Storage than Number
and Fastest Machine Arithmetic

RAW
Non-Interpreted (Character
Set Independent) Binary Data
Up To 255 Bytes Up To 2,000 Bytes

LONG RAW
Non-Interpreted (Character
Set Independent) Binary Data
Up To 2 GB Up To 2 GB

ROWID
Two-Byte Value which Stores
the Physical Location for a
Row in the Database 6 Bytes 10 Bytes (Extended)
6 Bytes (Restricted)

LOB
Locator to Large, Unstructured
or Binary Data (Images, Video,
Large Documents) Stored in a
Database or External Operating Sytem

BLOB
Binary Large Object
Internal or External Binary
(Read/Write) Data
N/A Up To 4 GB

CBLOB
Character Large Object
Internal or External Single
Byte (Read/Write) Data N/A Up To 4 GB

BFILE
Pointer to Externally Stored
Binary (Read-Only) Files
N/A Up To 4 GB

NCLOB
Internal/External Fixed-
Width Byte (Read/Write) Data
N/A Up To 4 GB

NCHAR
National Language Fixed-Length
Character Field with Trailing Blanks N/A Up To 2,000 Bytes

NLS
National Character Ste - Used to
Store Data in a Character Set Other
Than the Database Character Set

NVARCHAR2
National Language Variable-
Length Character Field N/A Up To 4,000 Bytes

DATE
Fixed-Length Date and Time Field Jan 1, 4712 BC to
Dec 31, 4712 AD Jan 1, 4712 BC to
Dec 31, 4712 CE

BOOLEAN
Logical True and Fals Values

REF CURSOR
Cursor Variable (Pointer to Cursor)