Обсуждение: varchar vs. text

Is there any way to apply the text functions to a varchar field or
convert from varchar to text?  I set up a database with varchar
fields with unspecified sizes because at the time the odbc driver
didn't like to use text as a unique key.  Now pg_dump sets the
size as (-5) which won't reload unless I take it out, and I can't
use many of the text-style operators.  Using field::text gives:
'ERROR:  function text(varchar) does not exist'.  Is there any
reason to use varchar now that the ODBC driver works with text,
and is there any way to convert short of pg_dump'ing and editing
the structure?

 Les Mikesell
   les@mcs.com