---
title: always specify max_length for a Charfield
description: Datadog, the leading service for cloud-scale monitoring.
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  Docs > Datadog Security > Code Security > Static Code Analysis (SAST) > SAST
  Rules > always specify max_length for a Charfield
---

# always specify max_length for a Charfield

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## Metadata{% #metadata %}

**ID:** `python-django/model-charfield-max-length`

**Language:** Python

**Severity:** Warning

**Category:** Best Practices

## Description{% #description %}

On a `Charfield`, define the attribute `max_length` to specify the maximum size of a field.

## Non-Compliant Code Examples{% #non-compliant-code-examples %}

```python
class Person(models.Model):
    first_name = models.CharField()  # define max_length
    last_name = models.CharField()  # define max_length
```

## Compliant Code Examples{% #compliant-code-examples %}

```python
class Person(models.Model):
    first_name = models.CharField(max_length=20)
    last_name = models.CharField(max_length=40)
```
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