Hi Scott, No, TEXT and BLOB are the same except for the case-sensitivity differences. Neither is like VARCHAR (except the with/without BINARY attribute part) in that TEXT/BLOB columns don't lose trailing spaces when inserted, as VARCHAR will -- just to clear that up.
That "article" is wrong, at least for MySQL. In MySQL, unlike some other DB systems, neither TEXT nor BLOB data is stored separate from the table. If you want to have the non-TEXT/BLOB part of your table smaller and faster (usually for full table scans), you have to manually create a separate table for your TEXT/BLOB columns. Hope that helps. Matt ----- Original Message ----- From: Scott Fletcher Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2004 2:47 PM Subject: Column's DataType -- TEXT vs BLOB... I'm wrestling over deciding on which data type to go with, TEXT or BLOB. I have one table with one column of 400 characters, I was thinking that TEXT may be the way to go for that one. I also have another table that use 4 columns of 800 characters along with 5 columns that use 250 characters. I'm thinking of using TEXT for 9 of those columns. The reason is because I read the MySQL Manual there that say TEXT and BLOB are pretty much the same in many ways, the only thing different is that BLOB use "VARCHAR" Binary while TEXT use "VARCHAR". But reading the article somewhere (not part of MySQL's Manual) say this... --snip-- If it doesn't have to be searchable then a BLOB might be more efficient and you shouldn't have to worry about size (Like size is important? ). The reason being that BLOB information is stored seperate from the table data and is related by a reference number in the table. This keeps the table smaller and faster as I understand. --snip-- So, I don't feel too sure what to decide on... Care for some advice or recommendation?? Thanks, Scott Fletcher -- MySQL General Mailing List For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
