Re: Need some help: attlen is pg_attributes gives a negative value.. .

> Roland Roberts <roberts(at)panix(dot)com> writes:
> >>>>>> "Tom" == Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> writes:
> Tom> Must have been quite a few versions back; attlen has been -1
> Tom> for variable-length datatypes for as long as I've been paying
> Tom> attention. (Of course char(n) isn't *really* variable length,
> Tom> but it's treated that way so that the representation is the
> Tom> same as for varchar(n) and text.)
>
> > When did this change? I haven't looked 6.5, but I thought 6.3 still
> > has bpchar as fixed length and char(n) was blank padded whereas
> > varchar was not.
>
> char(n) was and is blank-padded, varchar(n) was and is not. Sorry
> if I was imprecise enough to convey a different impression.
>
> I'm fairly sure that attlen had its present semantics in 6.4. 6.3
> was before my time; any old-timers care to comment?

Since day 1, they were that way. atttypmod was added in 6.3.

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