What is the difference between these three Oracle datatypes?

Question

• char
• varchar
• varchar2

I understand that varchar2(10) will allocate space dynamically upto 10 bytes. char(10) will allocate 10 bytes at the beginning and fill it with junk if the actual datalength is less.

If this is correct, what does varchar(10) do?

Answer 1

I think this explains it directly http://www.orafaq.com/faq/what_is_the_difference_between_varchar_varchar2_and_char_data_types

Answer 2

It is all covered quite comprehensively in the Oracle documentation.