What is the difference between tinyint, smallint, mediumint, bigint and int in MySQL?

Understanding the Integers in MySQL 🧮

When working with MySQL, you might come across different integer data types like tinyint, smallint, mediumint, bigint, and int. 🤔 It's important to understand the differences between them and know when to use each one. Let's dive right in!

Tinyint 😄

The tinyint data type is the smallest integer type in MySQL. It can store values from -128 to 127 or 0 to 255 when specified as unsigned. This means it uses only 1 byte of storage. 🔢

When to use tinyint? 🤷‍♂️

Tinyint is commonly used to represent boolean values, where 0 represents false and any other value represents true. For instance, imagine a column called "active" in a user table with values 0 for inactive and 1 for active. ☑️

Smallint 😄

The smallint data type is slightly larger than tinyint and can store values from -32,768 to 32,767 or 0 to 65,535 when specified as unsigned. It uses 2 bytes of storage. 📊

When to use smallint? 🤷‍♀️

Smallint is suitable for cases where you need a greater range of integer values compared to tinyint but still want to conserve space. It can be used for things like storing the number of items in an order or tracking a product's stock. 🛒

Mediumint 😄

Mediumint is the next step up and can store values from -8,388,608 to 8,388,607 or 0 to 16,777,215 when specified as unsigned. It requires 3 bytes of storage. 📈

When to use mediumint? 🤔

Mediumint is useful for scenarios where you need larger numbers than smallint can handle, but you don't want the overhead of using a 4-byte integer (int). It strikes a balance between range and storage efficiency. For example, tracking monthly sales figures could be a good use case for mediumint. 💰

Bigint 😄

The bigint data type is the largest integer type in MySQL. It can store values from -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 or 0 to 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 when specified as unsigned. It requires 8 bytes of storage. 📈

When to use bigint? 🧐

Bigint should be used when you need to handle extremely large numbers, such as primary keys that require a wide range of unique values or when dealing with financial transactions that involve large sums of money. Think of it as a heavy-duty data type for heavy-duty tasks. 💪

Int 😄

Lastly, we have the int data type. Int stands for "integer" and is the most commonly used integer type. It can store values from -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647 or 0 to 4,294,967,295 when specified as unsigned. It uses 4 bytes of storage. ⚙️

When to use int? 🧠

Integers are widely used in various scenarios, such as auto-incrementing primary keys, storing quantities, or representing IDs. It strikes a fine balance between range and storage efficiency.

💡 Remember that choosing the appropriate data type is crucial for database performance and storage optimization.

To summarize:

• Use tinyint for boolean values or small numeric ranges.

• Use smallint for larger numeric ranges while conserving space.

• Use mediumint for larger ranges than smallint and space optimization.

• Use bigint for extremely large numbers or vast numeric ranges.

• Use int for general-purpose integer values.

Got any doubts or questions? Feel free to drop them in the comments section below! Let's get the conversation started. 💬

Happy coding! 😊👩‍💻👨‍💻