Does VARCHAR size limit matter? [duplicate]

Answer 1

In the documentation of MySQL: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/char.html

You have a table that indicates the bytes of a VARCHAR(4) (vs a CHAR(4)).

A simple VARCHAR(4) without string, only 1 byte. Then, a simple VARCHAR(255) without string is 1byte. A VARCHAR(4) with 'ab' is 3 bytes, and a VARCHAR(255) with 'ab' is 3 bytes. It's the same, but with the lenght limit :)