NOT NULL CHECK (mycol !='') :good idea? bad idea? - Mailing list pgsql-sql

From Michael Moore
Subject NOT NULL CHECK (mycol !='') :good idea? bad idea?
Date
Msg-id CACpWLjPX-_80aXcJFbk7wxZWKPTs2Fyeywe=6HmgorzV2U=n7A@mail.gmail.com
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Responses Re: NOT NULL CHECK (mycol !='') :good idea? bad idea?
Re: NOT NULL CHECK (mycol !='') :good idea? bad idea?
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In Oracle, a NOT NULL constraint on a table column of VARCHAR in essence says: "You need to put at least 1 character for a value". There is no such thing as a zero-length string in Oracle, it's either NULL or it has some characters. 

To make Postgres perform an equivalent column edit, I am considering defining table columns like  ... mycol VARCHAR(20) NOT NULL CHECK (mycol !='')

Is there any drawback to this? Is there a better way to do it? Any thoughts? how about ....
mycol VARCHAR(20) NOT NULL CHECK (length(mycol) > 0)
or even
mycol VARCHAR(20)                   CHECK (length(mycol) > 0)

tia,
Mike

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