text and varchar - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

From Dennis Bjorklund
Subject text and varchar
Date
Msg-id Pine.LNX.4.44.0407211748080.2838-100000@zigo.dhs.org
Whole thread Raw
List pgsql-hackers
Why do we have both the type text and type varchar (without limit)?  
Couldn't we make one to be an alias for the other?

Since it's 2 distinct types there are some strange effects:
 dennis=> SELECT CAST ('123'::varchar AS integer); ERROR:  cannot cast type character varying to integer
 dennis=> SELECT CAST ('123'::text AS integer);  int4 ------   123

Sure, the cast is simple to fix. But why do we have two types in the first 
place?

-- 
/Dennis Björklund



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