What is the difference between NVARCHAR and VARCHAR?

Question

ICSM Computer · Answer

Note
Use VARCHAR if you only store English (or a single code page).Use NVARCHAR if you need multi-language support or special characters.
Difference Between VARCHAR and
NVARCHAR
Feature
VARCHAR
NVARCHAR
Data Type
Non-Unicode
Unicode
Storage
1 byte per character
2 bytes per character (for most characters)
Character Support
Only ASCII / code page specific characters
Supports multilingual characters (Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, emojis, etc.)
Max Length
Up to 8000 characters (VARCHAR(8000)), or 2 GB with VARCHAR(MAX)
Up to 4000 characters (NVARCHAR(4000)), or 2 GB with NVARCHAR(MAX)
Use Case
When data is English-only and storage size matters
When data may include multiple languages or special symbols
Prefix in Literals
'text' (normal string)
N'text' (must prefix with N to store Unicode)
and

Feature	`VARCHAR`	`NVARCHAR`
Data Type	Non-Unicode	Unicode
Storage	1 byte per character	2 bytes per character (for most characters)
Character Support	Only ASCII / code page specific characters	Supports multilingual characters (Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, emojis, etc.)
Max Length	Up to 8000 characters (`VARCHAR(8000)`), or 2 GB with `VARCHAR(MAX)`	Up to 4000 characters (`NVARCHAR(4000)`), or 2 GB with `NVARCHAR(MAX)`
Use Case	When data is English-only and storage size matters	When data may include multiple languages or special symbols
Prefix in Literals	`'text'` (normal string)	`N'text'` (must prefix with `N` to store Unicode)

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What is the difference between NVARCHAR and VARCHAR?

Anubhav Kumar

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Difference Between `VARCHAR` and `NVARCHAR`

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forum

What is the difference between NVARCHAR and VARCHAR?

Anubhav Kumar

Can you answer this question?

1 Answers

Note

Difference Between VARCHAR and NVARCHAR

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Difference Between `VARCHAR` and `NVARCHAR`