MySQL data types are grouped into 3 main categories:

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🔹 1. Numeric Data Types

(A) Integer Types

Type	Storage	Range (Signed)	Example
TINYINT	1 byte	-128 to 127	Age, flags
SMALLINT	2 bytes	-32,768 to 32,767	Small counts
MEDIUMINT	3 bytes	-8M to 8M	Larger counts
INT / INTEGER	4 bytes	-2B to 2B	IDs, counts
BIGINT	8 bytes	Very large numbers	Banking, population

👉 Add UNSIGNED for positive only.

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(B) Decimal Types

Type	Description
DECIMAL(M,D) / NUMERIC	Exact fixed-point (e.g., DECIMAL(10,2) for money = 12345678.90)
FLOAT	4-byte approximate decimal (single precision)
DOUBLE / REAL	8-byte approximate decimal (double precision)

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(C) Bit Type

• BIT(M) → Store binary values (1 = true, 0 = false).

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🔹 2. Date and Time Data Types

Type	Format	Range	Example
DATE	YYYY-MM-DD	1000-01-01 → 9999-12-31	2025-08-21
DATETIME	YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS	Full date + time	2025-08-21 10:30:00
TIMESTAMP	YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS	1970-01-01 UTC → 2038	Auto-updates on row changes
TIME	HH:MM:SS	-838:59:59 → 838:59:59	12:45:30
YEAR	YYYY	1901 → 2155	2025

👉 TIMESTAMP is timezone aware, DATETIME is not.

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🔹 3. String (Character) Data Types

(A) Fixed / Variable Length

Type	Description
CHAR(M)	Fixed-length (padded with spaces). Fast lookup.
VARCHAR(M)	Variable-length, up to 65,535 bytes. Common for names, emails.

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(B) Text Types

Type	Storage	Max Length
TINYTEXT	1 byte	255 chars
TEXT	2 bytes	65,535 chars
MEDIUMTEXT	3 bytes	16 million chars
LONGTEXT	4 bytes	4 billion chars

👉 Use TEXT for long descriptions.

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(C) Blob Types (Binary Large Objects)

Type	Max Size	Use Case
TINYBLOB	255 B	Small files
BLOB	65 KB	Images, docs
MEDIUMBLOB	16 MB	Larger files
LONGBLOB	4 GB	Huge files

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(D) Other String Types

• ENUM('val1','val2',...) → Fixed list of values.

  gender ENUM('M','F','Other')
  

• SET('a','b','c') → Store multiple values from predefined list.

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✅ Quick Summary

• Numeric → INT, BIGINT, DECIMAL, FLOAT, DOUBLE.
• Date/Time → DATE, DATETIME, TIMESTAMP, TIME, YEAR.
• String → CHAR, VARCHAR, TEXT, BLOB, ENUM, SET.