Hi David,
I appreciate your response.
I did the analysis.
It sounds me that in realistic scenario, CHAR_10 and VAR_CHAR_10 columns with the same data will fetch the desired results. It sounds me that there is no conflict.
select
length( '123'::char(5)),
length( '123 '::char(5)),
length('123'::varchar),
length('123 '::varchar),
length(('123 '::char(5))::varchar),
'123 '::char(5) = '123 '::varchar,
('123 '::char(5))::varchar = '123 '::varchar --- this is FALSE which is fine because VARCHAR is not padding the space.
;
Output:-
3 3 3 7 3 true false
Thanks,
Sarwar
From: David G. Johnston <david.g.johnston@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2023 2:04 PM
To: M Sarwar <sarwarmd02@outlook.com>
Cc: Scott Ribe <scott_ribe@elevated-dev.com>; Wetmore, Matthew (CTR) <Matthew.Wetmore@express-scripts.com>; mahesh <mahesha_dba@yahoo.com>; Mohammed Aslam <hmdaslam97@gmail.com>; pgsql-admin@lists.postgresql.org <pgsql-admin@lists.postgresql.org>; Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
Subject: Re: The same result for with SPACE and without SPACE
Hello Scott and all,
Here the question comes with respect to CHAR(10) to CHARACTeR VARYING( 10 ) comparison results.
char_10 - type character ( 10 )
var_char_10 - type character varying ( 10)
When I do the comparison between char_10 and var_char_10 columns, I may get the wrong results.
var_char_10 is always trimmed from right.
NO. varchar is never trimmed in this sense. Though casting to a varchar(n) will result in truncation of the input value to n characters - regardless of what those characters are.
char_10 has padded data of blank or spaces.
Now I compare char10 and var_char_10 columns, I will get the wrong results because char_10 has padded spaces.
Is that correct or will it ignore whitespaces at the end of char_10 column?
Testing shows that the varchar value gets promoted to char, not the other way around.
postgres=# select '123 '::char(5) = '123 '::varchar; ?column?---------- t(1 row) postgres=# select ('123 '::char(5))::varchar = '123 '::varchar;
?column?
----------
f
(1 row)
No one memorizes char behavior - if you must use it then test your code, and maybe be extra explicit with your casting too.
David J.