Storing SHA1 hash values in MySQL

Question

I have a simple question which occured when I wanted to store the result of a SHA1 hash in a MySQL database:

How long should the VARCHAR field be in which I store the hash's result?

Answer 1

Output size of sha1 is 160 bits. Which is 160/8 == 20 chars (if you use 8-bit chars) or 160/16 = 10 (if you use 16-bit chars).