title: Does size of a VARCHAR column matter when used in queries
body: <blockquote>
    <p><strong>Possible Duplicate:</strong><br>
    <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2009694/is-there-an-advantage-to-varchar500-over-varchar8000">is there an advantage to varchar(500) over varchar(8000)?</a>  </p>
  </blockquote>
  
  
  
  <p>I understand that a <code>VARCHAR(200)</code> column containing 10 characters takes same amount of space as a <code>VARCHAR(20)</code> column containing same data. </p>
  
  <p>I want to know if changing a dozen <code>VARCHAR(200)</code> columns of a specific table to <code>VARCHAR(20)</code> would make the queries run faster, especially when:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>These columns will never contain more than 20 characters</li>
  <li>These columns are often used in <code>ORDER BY</code> clause</li>
  <li>These columns are often used in <code>WHERE</code> clause
  
  <ul>
  <li>Some of these columns are indexed so that they can be used in <code>WHERE</code> clause</li>
  </ul></li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>PS: I am using SQL Server 2000 but will upgrade to later versions of SQL anytime soon.</p>