[sql-server-2008] How many characters in varchar(max)

How many characters can a SQL Server 2008 database field contain when the data type is VARCHAR(MAX)?

See the MSDN reference table for maximum numbers/sizes.

Bytes per varchar(max), varbinary(max), xml, text, or image column: 2^31-1

There's a two-byte overhead for the column, so the actual data is 2^31-3 max bytes in length. Assuming you're using a single-byte character encoding, that's 2^31-3 characters total. (If you're using a character encoding that uses more than one byte per character, divide by the total number of bytes per character. If you're using a variable-length character encoding, all bets are off.)

For future readers who need this answer quickly:

2^31-1 = 2.147.483.647 characters