Field name restrictions in a geodatabase table

[ChristopherPettit]

I have been working on creating a geodatabase and I am thinking about putting some tables in.  I wanted to check to see what the restrictions were for field names in a geodatabase table. 

Alphanumeric characters only, 64 characters in length, must start with a letter?

Do the restrictions differ with a geodatabase table as opposed to just adding a table from excel?

Sorry for such a bland newbie question, but surprisingly I can't find a specific answer anywhere.

[VinceAngelo]

Shapefiles are only marginally part of the geodatabase model, mostly because they don't conform to the full range of datatypes and NULL support (not to mention the field naming limitations and byte-sized length limit).

Geodatabase, the model, doesn't have limits. File geodatabase, the format, doesn't have limits*. Enterprise geodatabase, the format, only has what limits are imposed by the RDBMS vendor. Admittedly, juggling between these formats can be a PITA, but that's not a limitation of geodatabase.

I'm also mystified by the resurrection.

- V

* Where 2Gb-1 is "effectively unlimited"

[DanPatterson_Retired]

Thanks Vince... I will stick with multidimensional arrays... life is much simpler