Data Type

Databases store data. In order to make the database more efficient, different types of data are usually classified as a certain 'data type'.

There are various data types that you need to know about. Here are a few of the main ones:

> Text or Alphanumeric - stores data which includes text, symbols and numbers. An example would be 'name' e.g. John Smith. Another example would be 'Postcode' e.g. CV41 2RW.

> Number or Numeric - stores just numbers. These can be whole numbers, negative numbers and integers. Examples include, 'shoe size' 6 or 'length of room in metres' 12.54

> Currency - used to store data relating to money e.g. £25.50, $79.99

> Date / Time - used to store dates or times of the day. For example, 14/05/07 or 12:53

> Boolean: Used to hold data having only two values, namely true / false, yes / no

> Image - used for storing graphics

Data types are useful because they can be used to automatically format data, for example a currency data type would put the £ symbol (if set to UK currency) and up to 2 d.p.

2020-10