Difference Between VARCHAR and NVARCHAR in Sql Sqrver

Vikas

8y2.2k

Hey, Can you describe me Difference Between VARCHAR and NVARCHAR in SQL Server with an example in a real world not book theoretically?

8 Replies

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Ravi Kiran Chanduri8y ago
Hi Vikas,

to tell in simple words,

If your column values consist of data of foreign language like

then, we should use NVARCHAR type column.

if the data is in plain English, we can use VARCHAR.
+2
Sahil Sharma8y ago
Real World Example:

Let's say there are two companies A and B with the following characteristics:

Company A:
1. All the employees are Indian.
2. They speak Hindi.
3. Official Language is Hindi.

Company B:
1. Most of the employees are Indian, however few are from USA.
2. Usually speak Hindi but English is also used.
3. Official Language is Hindi and English.

So, varchar is like Company A that stores characters for a single language (English).
In order to make it multilingual like Company B, we use nvarchar that can store characters of any writing language (Unicode).

Technically, it may be noted that in order to store unicode characters, nvarchar takes 2 bytes per character as compared to varchar which takes only 1.
+2
Gajanan Chavhan8y ago
varchar - is the SQL-92 synonym for character varying. Variable length data type. nvarchar- is the SQL-92 synonym for national char varying and national character varying. Variable length data type N stands for National Language Character Set and is used to specify a Unicode string. When using Unicode data types, a column can store any character defined by the Unicode Standard, which includes all of the characters defined in the various character sets.
0
Prashanth Kumar8y ago
Nvarchar use 2bytes per charecter

varchar use 1 byte per charecter

varchar will take less space and nvarchar will take lot of space
+1
Kapil Singh Kumawat8y ago
VARCHAR is used to store non-unicode
NVARCHAR is used to store unicode and non-unicode which means you can store any type of character in different languages like chinese, english, spanish.

Please check the below links for examples -

https://dba.stackexchange.com/questions/36081/write-differences-between-varchar-and-nvarchar

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/144283/what-is-the-difference-between-varchar-and-nvarchar
+1
Kalyani Shevale8y ago
refer below link
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/35366/what-are-the-main-performance-differences-between-varchar-and-nvarchar-sql-serve
+1
Mohan Arumugam8y ago
VARCHAR
It is a variable length data type
Used to store non-Unicode characters
Occupies 1 byte of space for each character

NVARCHAR
It is a variable-length data type
Used to store Unicode characters
Occupies 2 bytes of space for each character

examples:
Check links

https://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/cda5ba/difference-between-char-nchar-varchar-and-nvarchar-data-ty/

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/40040715/nvarchar-storage-vs-varchar-storage-on-sql-server/40040774

https://dba.stackexchange.com/questions/36081/write-differences-between-varchar-and-nvarchar
+4
Manish Kumar8y ago
If you want to capture record like chinies charachter then use nvarchar and if simple english then use varchar .
+4