# LONGTEXT

## Syntax

```sql
LONGTEXT [CHARACTER SET charset_name] [COLLATE collation_name]
```

## Description

A [TEXT](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/data-types/string-data-types/text) column with a maximum length of 4,294,967,295 or 4GB (2³² - 1) characters. The effective maximum length is less if the value contains multi-byte characters. The effective maximum length of `LONGTEXT` columns also depends on the configured maximum packet size in the client/server protocol and available memory. Each `LONGTEXT` value is stored using a four-byte length prefix that indicates the number of bytes in the value.

`JSON` is an alias for `LONGTEXT`. See [JSON Data Type](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/data-types/string-data-types/json) for details.

## Oracle Mode

In [Oracle mode](https://app.gitbook.com/s/aEnK0ZXmUbJzqQrTjFyb/community-server/about/compatibility-and-differences/sql_modeoracle), [CLOB](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/data-types/string-data-types/clob) is a synonym for `LONGTEXT`.

## EXAMPLES

### LONGTEXT

Example of `LONGTEXT`:

```sql
CREATE TABLE longtext_example (
   description VARCHAR(20),
   example LONGTEXT
) DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1; -- One byte per char makes the examples clearer
```

{% hint style="warning" %}
The maximum size of a `LONGTEXT` is so large that it cannot be sent to the server without breaking the value up into chunks (something that the command-line client cannot do). For values larger than `16M`, you can increase the `max_allowed_packet` size up to a maximum of `1024M` to increase the allowed size of non-chunked values.
{% endhint %}

```sql
INSERT INTO longtext_example VALUES
   ('Normal foo', 'foo'),
   ('Trailing spaces foo', 'foo      '),
   ('NULLed', NULL),
   ('Empty', ''),
   ('Maximum', RPAD('', 4294967295, 'x'));
```

```sql
ERROR 1301 (HY000): Result of rpad() was larger than max_allowed_packet (16777216) - truncated
```

### Data Too Long

When `SQL_MODE` is strict (the default) a value is considered "too long" when its length exceeds the size of the data type, and an error is generated.

Example of data too long behavior for `LONGTEXT`:

```sql
TRUNCATE longtext_example;

INSERT INTO longtext_example VALUES
   ('Overflow', RPAD('', 4294967296, 'x'));
```

```sql
ERROR 1301 (HY000): Result of rpad() was larger than max_allowed_packet (16777216) - truncated
```

## See Also

* [TEXT](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/data-types/string-data-types/text)
* [BLOB and TEXT Data Types](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/data-types/string-data-types/blob-and-text-data-types)
* [Data Type Storage Requirements](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/data-types/data-type-storage-requirements)
* [JSON Data Type](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/reference/data-types/string-data-types/json)
* [Oracle mode](https://app.gitbook.com/s/aEnK0ZXmUbJzqQrTjFyb/community-server/about/compatibility-and-differences/sql_modeoracle)

<sub>*This page is licensed: GPLv2, originally from*</sub> [<sub>*fill\_help\_tables.sql*</sub>](https://github.com/MariaDB/server/blob/main/scripts/fill_help_tables.sql)

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