Re: [HACKERS] Large databases, performance

> if i'm not mistaken, a char(n)/varchar(n) column is stored as a 32-bit
> integer specifying the length followed by as many characters as the
> length tells. On 32-bit Intel hardware this structure is aligned on a
> 4-byte boundary.

Yes.

> | opc0 char (3) no no 8 4
> | opc1 char (3) no no 8 4
> | opc2 char (3) no no 8 4

> Hackers, do you think it's possible to hack together a quick and dirty
> patch, so that string length is represented by one byte? IOW can a
> database be built that doesn't contain any char/varchar/text value
> longer than 255 characters in the catalog?

Since he is only using fixchar how about doing a fixchar implemetation, that
does not store length at all ? It is the same for every row anyways !

Andreas