---
title: "Character data types"
url: "https://docs.yugabyte.com/stable/api/ysql/datatypes/type_character/"
---

# Character data types

Use character-based data types to specify data of a string of Unicode characters.

## Synopsis

Character-based data types are used to specify data of a string of Unicode characters.

| Data type                 | Description                                                |
|---------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------|
| `CHAR`                    | Character string of 1 byte                                 |
| `CHAR` (n)                | Character string of fixed-length (n) and blank padded      |
| `CHARACTER` (n)           | Character string of fixed-length (n) and blank padded      |
| `CHARACTER` `VARYING` (n) | Character string of variable-length with maximum limit (n) |
| `VARCHAR` (n)             | Character string of variable-length with maximum limit (n) |
| `VARCHAR`                 | Character string of variable and unlimited length          |
| `TEXT`                    | Character string of variable and unlimited length          |

## Description

```ebnf
text_literal ::= "'" [ '' | letter ...] "'"
```

Where

- Single quote must be escaped as ('').
- `letter` is any character except for single quote (`[^']`).
- Character-based data types can be part of the `PRIMARY KEY`.
- Value of character data type are convertible and comparable to non-text data types.