title: MySQL VARCHAR size limit
body: <p>If I have a column in table with field of type <code>VARCHAR(15)</code> and if I try to insert data of length 16, MySQL gives an error stating</p>
  
  <pre class="lang-none prettyprint-override"><code>Data too long for column 'testname' at row 1
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Does anyone know why VARCHAR fields in MySQL take fixed length? Also how many bytes does a VARCHAR field take per record based on the size given?</p>