nchar and nvarchar (T-SQL)

Character data types that are either fixed-length (nchar) or variable-length (nvarchar) Unicode data and use the UNICODE UCS-2 character set.

nchar(n)
Fixed-length Unicode character data of n characters. n must be a value from 1 through 4,000. Storage size is two times n bytes. The SQL-92 synonyms for nchar are national char and national character.
nvarchar(n)
Variable-length Unicode character data of n characters. n must be a value from 1 through 4,000. Storage size, in bytes, is two times the number of characters entered. The data entered can be 0 characters in length. The SQL-92 synonyms for nvarchar are national char varying and national character varying.
Remarks

When n is not specified in a data definition or variable declaration statement, the default length is 1. When n is not specified with the CAST function, the default length is 30.

Use nchar when the data entries in a column are expected to be consistently close to the same size.

Use nvarchar when the data entries in a column are expected to vary considerably in size.

SET ANSI_PADDING OFF does not apply to nchar or nvarchar. SET ANSI_PADDING is always ON for nchar and nvarchar.

See Also
ALTER TABLE LIKE
CAST and CONVERT SET @local_variable
CREATE TABLE SET ANSI_PADDING
Data Type Conversion sp_dbcmptlevel
Data Types UPDATE
DECLARE @local_variable Using Unicode Data
DELETE WHERE
INSERT  

  


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