SQL Server Data Types Part 2

Data Types in SQL Server 2008           
Numeric Data Types           

Data Type	Description	Length	Column1
int	Stores integer values ranging from -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647	4 bytes
tinyint	Stores integer values ranging from 0 to 255	1 byte
smallint	Stores integer values ranging from -32,768 to 32,767	2 bytes
bigint	Stores integer values ranging from -253 to 253-1	8 bytes
money	Stores monetary values ranging from -922,337,203,685,477.5808 to 922,337,203,685,477.5807	8 bytes
smallmoney	Stores monetary values ranging from -214,748.3648 to 214,748.3647	4 bytes
decimal(p,s)	Stores decimal values of precision p and scale s. The maximum precision is 38 digits	5–17 bytes
numeric(p,s)	Functionally equivalent to decimal	5–17 bytes
float(n)	Stores floating point values with precision of 7 digits (when n=24) or 15 digits (when n=53)	4 bytes (when n=24) or
		8 bytes (when n=53)
real	Functionally equivalent to float(24)	4 bytes

Date and Time Data Types

Data Type	Description	Length	Example
date	Stores dates between January 1, 0001, and December 31, 9999	3 bytes	2008-01-15
datetime	Stores dates and times between January 1, 1753, and December 31, 9999, with an accuracy of 3.33 milliseconds	8 bytes	2008-01-15  9:42:16:142
datetime2	Stores date and times between January 1, 0001, and December 31, 9999, with an accuracy of 100 nanoseconds	6–8 bytes	2008-01-15  9:42:16:1420221
datetimeoffset	Stores date and times with the same precision as datetime2 and also includes an offset from Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) (also known as Greenwich Mean Time)	8-10 bytes	2008-01-15  9:42:16:1420221 +05:00
smalldatetime	Stores dates and times between January 1, 1900, and June 6, 2079, with an accuracy of 1 minute (the seconds are always listed as “:00”)	4 bytes	2008-01-15  9:42:00
time	Stores times with an accuracy of 100 nanoseconds	3–5 bytes	09:42:16:1420221

Character String Data Types

Data Type	Description	Length	Column1
char(n)	Stores n characters	n bytes (where n is in the range of 1–8,000)
nchar(n)	Stores n Unicode characters	2n bytes (where n is in the range of 1–4,000)
varchar(n)	Stores approximately n characters	Actual string length +2 bytes (where n is in the range of 1–8,000)
varchar(max)	Stores up to 231–1 characters	Actual string length +2 bytes
nvarchar(n)	Stores approximately n characters	2n(actual string length) +2 bytes (where n is in the range of 1–4,000)
nvarchar(max)	Stores up to ((231–1)/2)–2 characters	2n(actual string length) +2 bytes

Binary Data Types

Data Type	Description	Length	Column1
bit	Stores a single bit of data	1 byte per 8 bit columns in a table
binary(n)	Stores n bytes of binary data	n bytes (where n is in the range of 1–8,000)
varbinary(n)	Stores approximately n bytes of binary data	Actual length +2 bytes (where n is in the range of 1–8,000)
varbinary(max)	Stores up to 231–1 bytes of binary data	Actual length +2 bytes

Other Data Types

Data Type	Description	Length	Column1
cursor	Stores a reference to a cursor	N/A (cannot be used in a table)
sql_variant	May store any data type other than sql_variant, text, ntext, image, and timestamp	Up to 8,000 bytes
table	Stores a temporary table (such as a query result)	N/A (cannot be used in a table)
rowversion	Stores a value of the database time (a relative number that increments each time you insert or update data in a database. It is not related to calendar/clock time)	8 bytes
uniqueidentifier	Stores a globally unique identifier	2 bytes
xml	Stores formatted XML documents	Up to 2GB