fixed size columns

I have a very long, very narrow table that is taking up a few gigabytes.
The table is defined with varchar(n) fields and some character(n) fields.
I am assuming that the majority of all fields are filled.

Are these rows being stored on disk as aligned varlenas? Can I squish out some
space by arranging the columns to groups of 8 bytes? Or is each column
aligned separately on a new 8 byte boundary? Or is this a futile exercise?

thanks,
elein

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elein(at)varlena(dot)com Database Consulting www.varlena.com
I have always depended on the [QA] of strangers.