Optimizing MySQL and MariaDB for TEXT: A Guide

Text in the shape of a dolphin. Introduction

If you frequently find yourself working with relational database instances, and especially MariaDB or MySQL, you probably already know the nuances of a couple of data types offered by MySQL. Some of the data types provided by MySQL are suited for numbers; others fit variable-length values, of which some are also good fits for text-based values.

What Data Types Are Available in MySQL?

Before explaining how to tune MySQL instances for specific (in this case, TEXT) data types, we must go over some of the data types offered by MySQL to make you understand how everything works in the first place. When it comes to data types, MySQL offers a few categories to choose from: