> 1. I thought the SQL spec required varchar() not to pad. Is it
> just that, because of the way pg_dump saved the char() data (as
> blank-padded) that the varchar() field preserves the padded data?
A dump from a char() field keeps the NULL padding even in the dump file I
assume, so when you went to import it you were importing data with NULLs
attached..
> 2. I could _swear_ I did something very similar to this some
> time ago (version 6.5.x? something like that?). Am I just imagining
> things? (I'm perfectly prepared to accept that, by the way. My
> memory is about as reliable these days as the DIMM I took out of my
> PC last week. That's why I need a good DBMS like postgres!)
I can't say one way or another on that.. But I feel your pain on the memory
problems :-)
-Mitch