Data types for Oracle 8 to Oracle 11g

Datatype	Description	Max Size: Oracle 8	Max Size: Oracle 9i/10g	Max Size: Oracle 11g	Max Size: PL/SQL	PL/SQL Subtypes/ Synonyms
VARCHAR2(size)	Variable length character string having maximum length size bytes. You must specify size	4000 bytes minimum is 1	4000 bytes minimum is 1	4000 bytes minimum is 1	32767 bytes minimum is 1	STRING VARCHAR
NVARCHAR2(size)	Variable length national character set string having maximum length size bytes. You must specify size	4000 bytes minimum is 1	4000 bytes minimum is 1	4000 bytes minimum is 1	32767 bytes minimum is 1	STRING VARCHAR
VARCHAR	Now deprecated (provided for backward compatibility only) VARCHAR is a synonym for VARCHAR2 but this usage may change in future versions.	-	-	-
CHAR(size)	Fixed length character data of length size bytes. This should be used for fixed length data. Such as codes A100, B102…	2000 bytes Default and minimum size is 1 byte.	2000 bytes Default and minimum size is 1 byte.	2000 bytes Default and minimum size is 1 byte.	32767 bytes Default and minimum size is 1 byte.	CHARACTER
NCHAR(size)	Fixed length national character set data of length size bytes. This should be used for fixed length data. Such as codes A100, B102…	2000 bytes Default and minimum size is 1 byte.	2000 bytes Default and minimum size is 1 byte.	2000 bytes Default and minimum size is 1 byte.	32767 bytes Default and minimum size is 1 byte.
NUMBER(p,s)	Number having precision p and scale s.	The precision p can range from 1 to 38. The scale s can range from -84 to 127.	The precision p can range from 1 to 38. The scale s can range from -84 to 127.	The precision p can range from 1 to 38. The scale s can range from -84 to 127.	Magnitude 1E-130 .. 10E125 maximum precision of 126 binary digits, which is roughly equivalent to 38 decimal digits The scale s can range from -84 to 127. For floating point don't specify p,s REAL has a maximum precision of 63 binary digits, which is roughly equivalent to 18 decimal digits	fixed-point numbers: DEC DECIMAL NUMERIC floating-point: DOUBLE PRECISION FLOAT binary_float (32 bit) binary_double (64 bit) integers: INTEGER INT SMALLINT simple_integer(10g) BOOLEAN REAL
PLS_INTEGER	signed integers PLS_INTEGER values require less storage and provide better performance than NUMBER values. So use PLS_INTEGER where you can!	PL/SQL only	PL/SQL only	PL/SQL only	magnitude range is -2147483647 .. 2147483647
BINARY_INTEGER	signed integers (older slower version of PLS_INTEGER)				magnitude range is -2147483647 .. 2147483647	NATURAL NATURALN POSITIVE POSITIVEN SIGNTYPE
LONG	Character data of variable length (A bigger version the VARCHAR2 datatype)	2 Gigabytes	2 Gigabytes - but now deprecated (provided for backward compatibility only).	2 Gigabytes - but now deprecated (provided for backward compatibility only).	32760 bytes Note this is smalller than the maximum width of a LONG column
DATE	Valid date range	from January 1, 4712 BC to December 31, 9999 AD.	from January 1, 4712 BC to December 31, 9999 AD.	from January 1, 4712 BC to December 31, 9999 AD.	from January 1, 4712 BC to December 31, 9999 AD. (in Oracle7 = 4712 AD)
TIMESTAMP (fractional_seconds_precision)	the number of digits in the fractional part of the SECOND datetime field.	-	Accepted values of fractional_seconds_precision are 0 to 9. (default = 6)	Accepted values of fractional_seconds_precision are 0 to 9. (default = 6)
TIMESTAMP (fractional_seconds_precision) WITH {LOCAL} TIMEZONE	As above with time zone displacement value	-	Accepted values of fractional_seconds_precision are 0 to 9. (default = 6)	Accepted values of fractional_seconds_precision are 0 to 9. (default = 6)
INTERVAL YEAR (year_precision) TO MONTH	Time in years and months, where year_precision is the number of digits in the YEAR datetime field.	-	Accepted values are 0 to 9. (default = 2)	Accepted values are 0 to 9. (default = 2)
INTERVAL DAY (day_precision) TO SECOND (fractional_seconds_precision)	Time in days, hours, minutes, and seconds. day_precision is the maximum number of digits in 'DAY' fractional_seconds_precision is the max number of fractional digits in the SECOND field.	-	day_precision may be 0 to 9. (default = 2) fractional_seconds_precision may be 0 to 9. (default = 6)	day_precision may be 0 to 9. (default = 2) fractional_seconds_precision may be 0 to 9. (default = 6)
RAW(size)	Raw binary data of length size bytes. You must specify size for a RAW value.	Maximum size is 2000 bytes	Maximum size is 2000 bytes	Maximum size is 2000 bytes	32767 bytes
LONG RAW	Raw binary data of variable length. (not intrepreted by PL/SQL)	2 Gigabytes.	2 Gigabytes - but now deprecated (provided for backward compatibility only)	2 Gigabytes - but now deprecated (provided for backward compatibility only)	32760 bytes Note this is smalller than the maximum width of a LONG RAW column
ROWID	Hexadecimal string representing the unique address of a row in its table. (primarily for values returned by the ROWID pseudocolumn.)	10 bytes	10 bytes	10 bytes	Hexadecimal string representing the unique address of a row in its table. (primarily for values returned by the ROWID pseudocolumn.)
UROWID	Hex string representing the logical address of a row of an index-organized table	The maximum size and default is 4000 bytes	The maximum size and default is 4000 bytes	The maximum size and default is 4000 bytes	universal rowid - Hex string representing the logical address of a row of an index-organized table, either physical, logical, or foreign (non-Oracle)	See CHARTOROWID and the package: DBMS_ROWID
MLSLABEL	Binary format of an operating system label.This datatype is used with Trusted Oracle7.
CLOB	Character Large Object	4Gigabytes	8 TB	8 TB to 128 TB (4 Gigabytes - 1) * (database block size)
NCLOB	National Character Large Object	4Gigabytes	8 TB	8 TB to 128 TB (4 Gigabytes - 1) * (database block size)
BLOB	Binary Large Object	4Gigabytes	8 TB	8 TB to 128 TB (4 Gigabytes - 1) * (database block size)
BFILE	pointer to binary file on disk	4Gigabytes	8 TB	8 TB to 128 TB (4 Gigabytes - 1) * (database block size)
XMLType	XML data	-	4 Gigabytes	4 Gigabytes	Populate with XML from a CLOB or VARCHAR2. or query from another XMLType column.