Character Data Types - Teradata Vantage - Analytics Database

Database Design

Deployment
VantageCloud
VantageCore
Edition
VMware
Enterprise
IntelliFlex
Product
Analytics Database
Teradata Vantage
Release Number
17.20
Published
June 2022
ft:locale
en-US
ft:lastEdition
2025-11-21
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lifecycle
lifecycle
Product Category
Teradata Vantage™
CHARACTER(n): 1 - 64,000 Bytes Fixed (All Platforms)
   Byte 1     Byte 64,000
1  —  64,000
VARCHAR(n): 1 - 64 000 Bytes Variable (All Platforms)
    Byte 1       Byte 2    Byte 64,000
Column offset 1  —  64,000
LONG VARCHAR: 1 - 64,000 Bytes Fixed (equivalent to VARCHAR(64000) (All Platforms)
     Byte 1       Byte 2    Byte 64,000
Column offset 1  —  64,000
CLOB(n): 8 bytes - 2 097 088 000 bytes Variable (All Platforms)
     Chunk   Bytes 1 - 8    Byte 64,000
1 length 1 — 64,000
length 1 — 64,000
m length 1 — n

If a CLOB is composed of Unicode characters, its upper limit is 1,048,544,000 bytes.

In both cases, the maximum supported size is slightly less than 2 GB or 1 GB, respectively.

CHARACTER(n) CHARACTER SET GRAPHIC: 1 - 32,000 Bytes Fixed (All Platforms)
     Byte 1     Byte 32,000
1  —  32,000
VARCHAR(n) CHARACTER SET GRAPHIC: 1 - 32,000 Bytes Variable (All Platforms)
     Byte 1      Byte 2     Byte 32,000
Column Offset 1  —  32,000
LONG VARCHAR CHARACTER SET GRAPHIC: 32,000 Bytes Fixed (equivalent to VARCHAR(n) CHARACTER SET GRAPHIC (32000) (All Platforms)
     Byte 1      Byte 2     Byte 32,000
Column Offset 1  —  32,000

The following table indicates the alignment requirements for the character data types and their respective sizes on packed64 and aligned row format platforms.

Data Type Packed64  Size

(bytes)

Aligned Row

Size (bytes)

Allocated            Aligned Row

Size (bytes)

CHARACTER(n) CHARACTER SET LATIN           n           1              n
CHARACTER(n) CHARACTER SET KANJI
CHARACTER(n) CHARACTER SET UNICODE         2n           2            2n
CHARACTER(n) CHARACTER SET GRAPHIC
VARCHAR(n) CHARACTER SET LATIN           n           1              n
VARCHAR(n) CHARACTER SET UNICODE       2n           1      ≤   2n
VARCHAR(n) CHARACTER SET GRAPHIC
VARCHAR(n) CHARACTER SET KANJI         n           1             n
LONG VARCHAR CHARACTER SET LATIN         64,000           1         64,000
LONG VARCHAR CHARACTER SET KANJI1
LONG VARCHAR CHARACTER SET UNICODE         32,000     32,000
LONG VARCHAR CHARACTER SET GRAPHIC
LONG VARCHAR CHARACTER SET KANJISJIS
CLOB(n) CHARACTER SET LATIN           n           1              n
CLOB(n) CHARACTER SET UNICODE       2n           2    ≤     2n