Both CHAR and NCHAR are fixed length string data types. But they have the following differences:

► CHAR's full name is CHARACTER.

► NCHAR's full name is NATIONAL CHARACTER.

► By default, CHAR uses ASCII character set. So 1 character is always stored as 1 byte.

► By default, NCHAR uses Unicode character set. NCHAR data are stored in UTF8 format. So 1 character could be stored as 1 byte or upto 4 bytes.

► Both CHAR and NCHAR columns are defined with fixed lengths in units of characters.

The following column definitions are the same:

CREATE TABLE faq (Title NCHAR(80));

CREATE TABLE faq (Title NATIONAL CHAR(80));

CREATE TABLE faq (Title NATIONAL CHARACTER(80));

CREATE TABLE faq (Title CHAR(80) CHARACTER SET utf8);

CREATE TABLE faq (Title CHARACTER(80) CHARACTER SET utf8);