Re: varchar vs. text

Still can't index those large toasted items -- not that I want to.
One interesting aspect is versioning of text documents where you want
them to be UNIQUE in regards to book development otherwise you have
the same document with 2 or more entries (more than a single version
number).  Poor example;  I know.
--
Rod Taylor

Your eyes are weary from staring at the CRT. You feel sleepy. Notice
how restful it is to watch the cursor blink. Close your eyes. The
opinions stated above are yours. You cannot imagine why you ever felt
otherwise.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ross J. Reedstrom" <reedstrm@rice.edu>
To: "Jan Wieck" <JanWieck@Yahoo.com>
Cc: "Rachit Siamwalla" <rachit@ensim.com>;
<pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2001 10:56 AM
Subject: Re: [HACKERS] varchar vs. text


> On Wed, Jul 11, 2001 at 09:56:27AM -0400, Jan Wieck wrote:
> > Rachit Siamwalla wrote:
> > >
> > > Is there any good reason to use VARCHAR over TEXT for a string
field? ie.
> > > performance hits, etc.
> > >
> > > Other than running into the row size limit problem, are there
any large
> > > storage / performance penalties of using TEXT for virtually all
strings?
> >
> >     Er  -  what kind of "row size limit"? I remember vaguely that
> >     there was something the like in ancient releases, but  forgot
> >     the specific restrictions.
>
> <FX: Sound of Jan whistling, looking around innocently>
>
> Very good Jan. Yes, PostgreSQL certainly develops on Internet time,
and
> while TOAST may seem ancient news to you, it was only in the 7.1
release
> (2001-04-13). Three months is a little early to start the 'Problem?
What
> problem?' campaign. Especially since some of the client libs (OBDC)
> just caught up, last week. :-)
>
> What Jan is so innocently not saying is described here:
>
> http://www.ca.postgresql.org/projects/devel-toast.html
>
> Jan not only solved the 'row size limit', he did it in a more
general
> way, solving lots of the follow on problems that come from putting
large
> fields into a table. Details at the above URL.
>
> Ross
>
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