MySQL - TEXT vs CHAR and VARCHAR

Question

Reading this question a doubt poped into my head:

• char and varchar can store up to 255 chars
• text can store up to 65k chars
• char size in bytes is number of chars
• varchar size in bytes is number of chars used + 1

So how much bytes does TEXT actually occupies? ~65kb or number of chars used + 1?

Answer 1

TEXT is a variable length datatype, with a maximum of 65,000 characters.

http://simonwillison.net/2002/Aug/1/mysqlTextLimits/

LONGTEXT can be used for over 4 trillion characters.

To answer your question: it's a variable lenght, and it will only occupy the amount of characters you store.

Answer 2

TEXT occupies a number actual length of your data + 2 bytes.