The difference between the CHAR and VARCHAR data types in SQL is referred to as:
CHAR: The CHAR data type is used to store fixed-length strings. When you define a CHAR column, you must specify the maximum number of characters it can hold. If the actual data is shorter than the defined length, it is padded with spaces to reach the specified length.
VARCHAR: The VARCHAR data type is used to store variable-length strings. Unlike CHAR, VARCHAR columns only consume the necessary amount of storage based on the actual data length. It does not pad the data with spaces.