DB2 Interview Question: Describe the difference between VARCHAR and CHAR data types in DB2

In DB2, VARCHAR and CHAR are both string data types, but they have some key differences:

CHAR data type:

CHAR is a fixed-length character data type in DB2. When you define a column as CHAR, you must specify a fixed length for the data. Any data stored in a CHAR column will be padded with spaces to fill the defined length. This can lead to wasted storage space if the actual data being stored is less than the defined length.

VARCHAR data type:

On the other hand, VARCHAR is a variable-length character data type in DB2. When you define a column as VARCHAR, you specify a maximum length for the data, but the actual data stored in the column will only take up as much space as needed. This can help save storage space compared to CHAR, especially if the data varies in length.

So, the main difference between VARCHAR and CHAR in DB2 is that CHAR is fixed-length, padding data with spaces, while VARCHAR is variable-length, storing only the actual data without padding.