Just like in the question, not sure what the difference between '' and N'' in SQL.
- possible duplicate of N prefix before string in Transact-SQL queryMartin Smith– Martin Smith2012-01-19 15:38:05 +00:00Commented Jan 19, 2012 at 15:38
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3 Answers
It's shorthand for Nvarchar. Using that notation tells the parser to treat the following string data as nvarchar instead of the default varchar.
Example:
SELECT N'This is a test'; -- NVarChar data SELECT 'Test is a test'; -- VarChar data 2 Comments
Martin Smith
It stands for "National" I believe.
Yuck
@MartinSmith You're right - National Language Character. So weird.
N stores UNICODE data just like NVARCHAR and VARCHAR
An nvarchar column can store any Unicode data. A varchar column is restricted to an 8-bit codepage. Some people think that varchar should be used because it takes up less space. I believe this is not the correct answer. Codepage incompatabilities are a pain, and Unicode is the cure for codepage problems. With cheap disk and memory nowadays, there is really no reason to waste time mucking around with code pages anymore.
2 Comments
Yuck
+1 A little off-topic, but I'm with you on using
nvarchar by default. In some cases where I know I'm only storing something like a product code, or state abbreviation I'll fall back on varchar instead.
onedaywhen
But as Celko says, you give someone a
NVARCHAR column and eventually it will get a Buddhist sutra in Chinese Unicode.N'' indicates a unicode String.
