Types in MySQL: BigInt(20) vs Int(20)

Question

I was wondering what the difference between BigInt, MediumInt, and Int are... it would seem obvious that they would allow for larger n

Answer 1

Quote:

The "BIGINT(20)" specification isn't a digit limit. It just means that when the data is displayed, if it uses less than 20 digits it will be left-padded with zeros. 2^64 is the hard limit for the BIGINT type, and has 20 digits itself, hence BIGINT(20) just means everything less than 10^20 will be left-padded with spaces on display.