# VARCHAR FOR BIT DATA data type

The VARCHAR FOR BIT DATA type allows you to store binary strings less than or equal to a specified length. It is useful for unstructured data where character strings are not appropriate (for example, images).

## Syntax

    { VARCHAR | CHAR VARYING | CHARACTER VARYING } (length) FOR BIT DATA

length is an unsigned integer literal designating the length in bytes.

Unlike the case for the CHAR FOR BIT DATA type, there is no default length for a VARCHAR FOR BIT DATA type. The maximum size of the length value is 32,672 bytes.

## JDBC metadata type (java.sql.Types)

VARBINARY

VARCHAR FOR BIT DATA stores variable-length byte strings. Unlike CHAR FOR BIT DATA values, VARCHAR FOR BIT DATA values are not padded out to the target length.

An operation on a VARCHAR FOR BIT DATA and a CHAR FOR BIT DATA value (e.g., a concatenation) yields a VARCHAR FOR BIT DATA value.

The type of a byte literal is always a VARCHAR FOR BIT DATA, not a CHAR FOR BIT DATA.

Parent topic: Data types