Exact numerics
| Type |
From |
To |
| bigint |
-9,223,372,036,854,775,808 |
9,223,372,036,854,775,807 |
| int |
-2,147,483,648 |
2,147,483,647 |
| smallint |
-32,768 |
32,767 |
| tinyint |
0 |
255 |
| bit |
0 |
1 |
| decimal |
-10^38 +1 |
10^38 –1 |
| numeric |
-10^38 +1 |
10^38 –1 |
| money |
-922,337,203,685,477.5808 |
+922,337,203,685,477.5807 |
| smallmoney |
-214,748.3648 |
+214,748.3647 |
numeric and decimal are Fixed precision and scale data types and are functionally equivalent.
Approximate numerics
| Type |
From |
To |
| float |
-1.79E + 308 |
1.79E + 308 |
| real |
-3.40E + 38 |
3.40E + 38 |
datetime and smalldatetime
| Type |
From |
To |
| datetime (3.33 milliseconds accuracy) |
Jan 1, 1753 |
Dec 31, 9999 |
| smalldatetime (1 minute accuracy) |
Jan 1, 1900 |
Jun 6, 2079 |
Character Strings
| Type |
Description |
| char |
Fixed-length non-Unicode character data with a maximum length of 8,000 characters. |
| varchar |
Variable-length non-Unicode data with a maximum of 8,000 characters. |
| varchar(max) |
Variable-length non-Unicode data with a maximum length of 231 characters (SQL Server 2005 only). |
| text |
Variable-length non-Unicode data with a maximum length of 2,147,483,647 characters. |
Unicode Character Strings
| Type |
Description |
| nchar |
Fixed-length Unicode data with a maximum length of 4,000 characters. |
| nvarchar |
Variable-length Unicode data with a maximum length of 4,000 characters. |
| nvarchar(max) |
Variable-length Unicode data with a maximum length of 230 characters (SQL Server 2005 only). |
| ntext |
Variable-length Unicode data with a maximum length of 1,073,741,823 characters. |
Binary Strings
| Type |
Description |
| binary |
Fixed-length binary data with a maximum length of 8,000 bytes. |
| varbinary |
Variable-length binary data with a maximum length of 8,000 bytes. |
| varbinary(max) |
Variable-length binary data with a maximum length of 231 bytes (SQL Server 2005 only). |
| image |
Variable-length binary data with a maximum length of 2,147,483,647 bytes. |
Other Data Types
- sql_variant: Stores values of various SQL Server-supported data types, except text, ntext, and timestamp.
- timestamp: Stores a database-wide unique number that gets updated every time a row gets updated.
- uniqueidentifier: Stores a globally unique identifier (GUID).
- xml: Stores XML data. You can store xml instances in a column or a variable (SQL Server 2005 only).
- cursor: A reference to a cursor.
- table: Stores a result set for later processing.
Article ID: 32, Created On: 10/3/2008, Modified: 11/1/2013