Re: Varchar pkey instead of integer

["Joshua D. Drake" <jd(at)commandprompt(dot)com>]

Robins Tharakan wrote:
> Hi,

> Now what I wanted to ask was whether its any different to have the 
> primary-keys in such master tables as text/varchar rather than integer ? 
> i.e. Can I use a character varying(10) and use the text 'million' / 
> 'billion' instead of a serial / integer type ?

One should ask themselves why before can I. :)

If you want to use a varchar() for a primary key that is fine but make 
it a natural key not an arbitrary number. If you are going to use 
arbitrary numbers, use a serial or bigserial.

Joshua D. Drake