What's the difference between CharField and TextField in Django?

Django is a back-end Python web framework that uses object-relational mapping (ORM), which adds an abstraction layer for users to interact with the database using Python classes. In the case of a relational database, each class represents a table. These Python classes are made inside models.py, the file in the app folder. Each class has its fields. For strings, we often use CharField or TextField. The CharField model field is used for small or medium-sized texts and allows us to specify the maximum length a string can have depending upon the limit allowed in that database. Unlike CharField, TextField has no limit to the number of characters a string can have.

The CharField model field

In Django, CharField is used for small to medium-sized texts with an optional argument of maximum string length.

Syntax

Here, the following code shows the general syntax of CharField: 

Class CharField(max_length=None, **options)

Arguments

Two arguments can be given with CharField:

  • The max_length argument limits the number of characters in a string at the database level. The Django MaxLengthValidator checks if any string exceeds the maximum string length specified by the user. This is done for all databases except PostgreSQL. Databases like MySQL allow a maximum of 255 characters in strings. Therefore, for any string with a non-zero length, the max_length should be less than or equal to the maximum string size allowed in the database.

  • Other optional arguments: Optional arguments include null, which stores empty strings in the database. Collation, the string comparison and sorting rules for a specific database, is possible using the db_collation argument.

One way to use Charfield is given below. The class, Employee_Data, inherits the models class and has one field called, employee_name.

from django.db import models
class Employee_Data(models.Model):
    employee_name = models.CharField(max_length = 100, db_collation = 'utf8_general_ci')

Code explanation

  • Line 1: Imports model module to define the database models in Django.

  • Line 3: Defines the Employee_Data class, which inherits from the models.Model base class.

  • Line 4: Defines the employee_name string, which stores the CharField string field of max_length of 100.

The TextField model field

The TextField model field is used for large-sized strings, such as long paragraphs. Unlike CharField, the maximum length for strings is not specified. The max_length optional argument, if given, is ignored at the database level.

Syntax

The following code shows the general syntax of TextField.

Class TextField(**options)

Arguments

All of the optional arguments that can be used with CharField can also be used with TextField. However, some arguments might not be relevant to a TextField, which are:

  • max_length: Since TextField handles large text, specifying a limit to the string length is not applicable. However, if the limit is given, it will be applied in the Textarea widget of the autogenerated form field.

  • db_collation: Large text is not usually sorted or used for comparison because it is unstructured data. Therefore, this argument will also not apply to TextField.

The following code shows how to use TextField in Django.

from django.db import models
class Employee_Data(models.Model):
    employee_experience = models.TextField()

Code explanation

  • Line 1: Imports the models module to define database models in Django.

  • Line 3: Defines the Employee_Data class, which inherits from the models.Model base class.

  • Line 4: Defines the string, employee_experience, which stores the TextField string with no additional arguments. However, as shown in the above table, all optional arguments can be used in the same way with TextField as they are used with the CharField.

The following table summarizes the key differences between the two model fields.

CharField

TextField

Used for short to medium-sized strings

Used for large strings

Usually requires a max_length argument

Does not require a max_length limit

Used for strings like names, addresses, etc.

Used for strings like blogs, comments, etc.

Strings using this field are suitable for searching, indexing, and sorting.

Strings using this field are not usually suitable for searching, indexing, or sorting.

Syntax: employee_name = models.CharField(max_length=100)

Syntax: employee_comment = models.TextField()

Django application

The Django application below shows employee data for a firm. The models.py file shows the usage of both CharField and TextField. The name and designation fields are shorter strings, so we use CharField. However, the employees' bio, which stores their education and work experiences, is a larger string that requires TextField. The following command runs the Django application:

python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000

After pressing the “Run” button, type the above command in the terminal to start the application.

"""
Django settings for employee1 project.

Generated by 'django-admin startproject' using Django 4.2.4.

For more information on this file, see
https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.2/topics/settings/

For the full list of settings and their values, see
https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.2/ref/settings/
"""

from pathlib import Path

# Build paths inside the project like this: BASE_DIR / 'subdir'.
BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent


# Quick-start development settings - unsuitable for production
# See https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.2/howto/deployment/checklist/

# SECURITY WARNING: keep the secret key used in production secret!
SECRET_KEY = 'django-insecure-q1@6djj(+530p#*f6$g!obp)-vrk23%3@i_z3l8rbgit_r(=88'

# SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
DEBUG = True

ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['*']


# Application definition

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
    'employee_data',
    'django_extensions',
]

MIDDLEWARE = [
    'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
]

ROOT_URLCONF = 'employee1.urls'

TEMPLATES = [
    {
        'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
        'DIRS': ["employee1/templates/"],
        'APP_DIRS': True,
        'OPTIONS': {
            'context_processors': [
                'django.template.context_processors.debug',
                'django.template.context_processors.request',
                'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
                'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
            ],
        },
    },
]

WSGI_APPLICATION = 'employee1.wsgi.application'


# Database
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.2/ref/settings/#databases

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
        'NAME': BASE_DIR / 'db.sqlite3',
    }
}


# Password validation
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.2/ref/settings/#auth-password-validators

AUTH_PASSWORD_VALIDATORS = [
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.UserAttributeSimilarityValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.MinimumLengthValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.CommonPasswordValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.NumericPasswordValidator',
    },
]


# Internationalization
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.2/topics/i18n/

LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en-us'

TIME_ZONE = 'UTC'

USE_I18N = True

USE_TZ = True


# Static files (CSS, JavaScript, Images)
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.2/howto/static-files/

STATIC_URL = 'static/'

# Default primary key field type
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.2/ref/settings/#default-auto-field

DEFAULT_AUTO_FIELD = 'django.db.models.BigAutoField'
A Django application demonstrating the usage of CharField and TextField.

Conclusion

The main difference between CharField and TextField is the size of the string stored in the database. A CharField stores small or medium-sized strings with a maximum limit specified for most databases. In contrast, a TextField is used for larger strings with no maximum limit.

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