The BINARY and VARBINARY Types

mysql> CREATE TABLE t (c BINARY());
Query OK,  rows affected (0.21 sec)

mysql> INSERT INTO t SET c = 'a';
Query OK,  row affected (0.18 sec)

mysql>  SELECT HEX(c), c = 'a', c = 'a\0\0' from t;
+--------+---------+-------------+
| HEX(c) | c = 'a' | c = 'a\0\0' |
+--------+---------+-------------+
|  |        |            |
+--------+---------+-------------+
 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> INSERT INTO t SET c = 'a';
Query OK,  row affected (0.19 sec)

mysql>  SELECT HEX(c), c = 'a', c = 'a\0\0' from t;
+--------+---------+-------------+
| HEX(c) | c = 'a' | c = 'a\0\0' |
+--------+---------+-------------+
|  |        |            |
|  |        |            |
+--------+---------+-------------+
 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> INSERT INTO t SET c = 'a ';
Query OK,  row affected (0.19 sec)

mysql>  SELECT HEX(c), c = 'a', c = 'a\0\0' from t;
+--------+---------+-------------+
| HEX(c) | c = 'a' | c = 'a\0\0' |
+--------+---------+-------------+
|  |        |            |
|  |        |            |
|  |        |            |
+--------+---------+-------------+
 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT x'4D7953514C';
+---------------+
| x'4D7953514C' |
+---------------+
| MySQL         |
+---------------+
 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> select x'';
+-----------+
| x'' |
+-----------+
| a         |
+-----------+
 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> select x'';
+-----------+
| x'' |
+-----------+
| a         |
+-----------+
 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> CREATE TABLE t2 (c varBINARY());
Query OK,  rows affected (0.23 sec)

mysql> INSERT INTO t2 SET c = 'a';
Query OK,  row affected (0.17 sec)

mysql> select * from t2;
+------+
| c    |
+------+
| a    |
+------+
 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT HEX(c), c = 'a', c = 'a\0\0' from t2;
+--------+---------+-------------+
| HEX(c) | c = 'a' | c = 'a\0\0' |
+--------+---------+-------------+
|      |        |            |
+--------+---------+-------------+
 row in set (0.00 sec)