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

As far as I know, there is only one small difference is when you are trying to insert value which is out of range.

In examples I'll use 401421228216, which is 101110101110110100100011101100010111000 (length 39 characters)

• If you have INT(20) for system this means allocate in memory minimum 20 bits. But if you'll insert value that bigger than 2^20, it will be stored successfully, only if it's less then INT(32) -> 2147483647 (or 2 * INT(32) -> 4294967295 for UNSIGNED)

Example:

mysql> describe `test`;
+-------+------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type             | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-------+------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| id    | int(20) unsigned | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
+-------+------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
1 row in set (0,00 sec)

mysql> INSERT INTO `test` (`id`) VALUES (401421228216);
ERROR 1264 (22003): Out of range value for column 'id' at row 1

mysql> SET sql_mode = '';
Query OK, 0 rows affected, 1 warning (0,00 sec)

mysql> INSERT INTO `test` (`id`) VALUES (401421228216);
Query OK, 1 row affected, 1 warning (0,06 sec)

mysql> SELECT * FROM `test`;
+------------+
| id         |
+------------+
| 4294967295 |
+------------+
1 row in set (0,00 sec)

• If you have BIGINT(20) for system this means allocate in memory minimum 20 bits. But if you'll insert value that bigger than 2^20, it will be stored successfully, if it's less then BIGINT(64) -> 9223372036854775807 (or 2 * BIGINT(64) -> 18446744073709551615 for UNSIGNED)

Example:

mysql> describe `test`;
+-------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type                | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+-------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| id    | bigint(20) unsigned | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
+-------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
1 row in set (0,00 sec)

mysql> INSERT INTO `test` (`id`) VALUES (401421228216);
Query OK, 1 row affected (0,04 sec)

mysql> SELECT * FROM `test`;
+--------------+
| id           |
+--------------+
| 401421228216 |
+--------------+
1 row in set (0,00 sec)