How to map a single char column in Doctrine 2

Question

How can I map a single char column in Doctrine 2, using annotations? I would like to have a char type, instead a single char string.

score 55 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 19 '20 at 17:13

55

You can always use the string type with the fixed option:

/**
 * @Column(type="string", length=2, options={"fixed" = true})
 */
protected $country;

The above code snippet produces the following SQL:

`country` char(2) NOT NULL,

edited Nov 19 '20 at 17:13

Eddie C.

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answered Mar 11 '14 at 12:50

Francesco Casula

26,184
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3

I would like to add this note for PostgreSQL, from the [docs](http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.3/static/datatype-character.html): There is no performance difference among char, varchar and text, apart from increased storage space when using the char(n), and a few extra CPU cycles to check the length when storing into a length-constrained column. While char(n) has performance advantages in some other databases, there is no such advantage in PostgreSQL; in fact char(n) is usually the slowest, because of its additional storage costs. In most situations text or varchar should be used instead. – edigu Mar 18 '15 at 20:14

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 10 '14 at 01:46

Doctrine doesn't have a CHAR type defined out of the box, however it does allow you to define custom types, which you could use to create a 'char' type to use in annotations.

The Doctrine documentation has an example of this: http://docs.doctrine-project.org/projects/doctrine-dbal/en/latest/reference/types.html#custom-mapping-types

score 2 · Answer 3 · edited Nov 21 '20 at 18:56

2

You might end up providing your own full-column definition:

/**
 * @Column(type="string", columnDefinition="CHAR(2) NOT NULL")
 */
protected $country = null;

edited Nov 21 '20 at 18:56

Eddie C.

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answered Jan 27 '16 at 21:08

Антон Кучеревский

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You usually don't want to use the columnDefinition property since most likely you are tying yourself to one database engine – Dennis Haarbrink Nov 17 '16 at 07:47

How to map a single char column in Doctrine 2

3 Answers3