RE: Number Vs. Varchar2 Datatype

[Christopher Spence]

Title: Number Vs. Varchar2 Datatype

VARCHAR2 is more efficient marginally for sorting and indexing.

 

Oracle claims numeric primary key is faster, but there has been proof otherwise.

 

But if your data is number, it should be stored as a number.  The speed difference is very marginal.

 

"Walking on water and developing software from a specification are easy if both are frozen."

Christopher R. Spence
Oracle DBA
Fuelspot

-----Original Message-----
From: Arslan Dar [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2001 5:05 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
Subject: Number Vs. Varchar2 Datatype

Hi list,

We are in the design phase of our new database and eventually there a number of feilds which are actually numeric say DEPARTMENT NUMBER or EMPLOYEE CODE (they dont contain any alphabat or special character) ,

The main decision to be made right now is to choose the right datatype, Options ofcourse are VARCHAR2 or NUMBER, i know its better to have varchar2 cuz its a bit flexible, but i want some expert opinion,

can u tell me any pros and cons of having NUMBER or Varchar2 datatype on a feild which is numeric, which may be PRIMARY KEY and also which is NOT always used in Calculations,

which datatype is more efficient

Its Oracle 8.1.7 on NT4,

TIA,

Arslan