How to store more than 255 char in MySQL database?

Question

I only get set the text field in MySQL to 255, if I want to store a data longer than 255 chars, what can I do?

Answer 1

Prior to MySQL 5.0.3, a VARCHAR could only store up to 255 characters.

• To store up to 65535 (64KB) characters, use a TEXT column.
• To store up to 16777216 (16MB ) characters, use a MEDIUMTEXT column.
• To store up to 4294967296 (4GB) characters, use a LONGTEXT column.

See the storage requirements section of the manual for caveats on their usage.

Versions of MySQL after 5.0.3 can store up to 65535 chars in a VARCHAR (However you cannot store more than 65535 bytes in a single row).