What is the impact of using varchar instead of int for storing numerical data in a MySQL database?

Using varchar instead of int for storing numerical data in a MySQL database can lead to increased storage space and slower query performance. It is recommended to use the appropriate data type (int) for numerical data to ensure efficient storage and faster data retrieval. 

// Create a table with numerical data stored as int
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "myDB";

// Create connection
$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

// Check connection
if ($conn->connect_error) {
  die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
}

// Create table with numerical data stored as int
$sql = "CREATE TABLE MyTable (
id INT(6) UNSIGNED AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
numerical_data INT
)";

if ($conn->query($sql) === TRUE) {
  echo "Table MyTable created successfully";
} else {
  echo "Error creating table: " . $conn->error;
}

$conn->close();

Keywords

PHP MySQL varchar int data storage

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