>>The varchar data type existed in SQL Server since forever. It also has been added to VFP9 for compatibility with SQL Server.
>>
>>IN SQL Server, varchar stores as many characters as you provide w/o padding with spaces. It make sense for longer columns with variable values.
>
>So, as a general rules, as pretty much all character type fields are variable, should we just better to create our fields with varchar?

Use 5 as a rule. Everything greater than 5 should be varchar.