Oracle SQL Developer

5Data Types: Usage InformationThe topic discusses the data types used with Oracle Database. It contains the followingtopics:■ Overview of Data Types on page 5-1■ Storing Character Data on page 5-1■ Storing Numeric Data on page 5-2■ Storing Datetime Data on page 5-5See Also:■■Oracle Database SQL Reference for complete reference informationon the SQL data typesOracle Database Concepts to learn about Oracle built-in data types5.1 Overview of Data TypesA data type associates a fixed set of properties with the values that can be used in acolumn of a table or in an argument of a procedure or function. These properties causeOracle Database to treat values of one data type differently from values of anotherdata type. For example, Oracle Database can use the addition operator on values ofNUMBER data type, but not with values of some other data types. The data typessupported by Oracle Database include characters, numbers, and dates and times(known as datetime data types).To view the data types contained in a database table, such as the employees table,you can use Connections navigator or the SQL*Plus DESCRIBE. For information on theSQL*Plus DESCRIBE command, see SQL*Plus DESCRIBE Command.5.2 Storing Character DataThis topic contains the following topics:■■What are the Character Data Types?Choosing Between the Character Data Types5.2.1 What are the Character Data Types?You can use the following SQL data types to store alphanumeric data:■VARCHAR2 and NVARCHAR2 data types store variable-length character literals.Data Types: Usage Information 5-1