Which data type stores variable-length character values?

• A. Date
• B. Character Varying (VARCHAR)
• C. Binary
• D. Character (CHAR)

Answer: (B)

Variable-length character data is stored by the VARCHAR type. It holds strings up to a specified maximum length and uses only as much space as the actual content, without padding. This makes VARCHAR efficient for varying-length text like names or titles. For example, VARCHAR(50) can store a short word or a longer name as long as the total length stays under 50 characters. In contrast, fixed-length CHAR reserves the full defined size for every value and pads shorter entries with spaces, which can waste space. Other types like Date store calendar dates, or Binary stores raw bytes, not text. So the type that stores variable-length character values is VARCHAR.