Choose the right MySQL data type: INT for IDs, DECIMAL for money, VARCHAR for strings, JSON for documents.
MySQL Data Types
| Type | Use Case |
|---|
| INT / BIGINT | Integers, IDs, counts |
| TINYINT(1) | Boolean (0/1) |
| DECIMAL(10,2) | Money, precise decimals |
| FLOAT / DOUBLE | Approximate decimals |
| VARCHAR(n) | Short strings (max 65535) |
| TEXT | Long text (64KB) |
| MEDIUMTEXT | Medium text (16MB) |
| DATE | YYYY-MM-DD |
| DATETIME | YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS |
| TIMESTAMP | Auto-updated datetime |
| JSON | JSON documents (MySQL 5.7+) |
| ENUM | Fixed set of values |
price DECIMAL(10,2) NOT NULL,
status ENUM('active','inactive','banned') DEFAULT 'active',
settings JSON,
tags SET('php','python','js')