Benefit of TEXT with CHECK over VARCHAR(X) in PostgreSQL. Brandur suggests using email TEXT CHECK (char_length(email) <= 255) to define a column with a length limit in PostgreSQL over VARCHAR(255) because TEXT and VARCHAR are equally performant but a CHECK length can be changed later on without locking the table, whereas a VARCHAR requires an ALTER TABLE with an exclusive lock.
Recent articles
- Moltbook is the most interesting place on the internet right now - 30th January 2026
- Adding dynamic features to an aggressively cached website - 28th January 2026
- ChatGPT Containers can now run bash, pip/npm install packages, and download files - 26th January 2026