Documentation

SQL comparison operators

Comparison operators evaluate the relationship between the left and right operands and returns true or false.

OperatorMeaning
=Equal to
<>Not equal to
!=Not equal to
>Greater than
>=Greater than or equal to
<Less than
<=Less than or equal to
IS DISTINCT FROMIs distinct from
IS NOT DISTINCT FROMIs not distinct from
~Matches a regular expression
~*Matches a regular expression (case-insensitive)
!~Does not match a regular expression
!~*Does not match a regular expression (case-insensitive)

=

The = operator compares the left and right operands and, if equal, returns true. Otherwise returns false.

SELECT 123 = 123
Int64(123) = Int64(123)
true

!=, <>

The != and <> operators compare the left and right operands and, if not equal, returns true. Otherwise returns false.

SELECT 123 != 456
Int64(123) != Int64(456)
true
SELECT 123 <> 456
Int64(123) != Int64(456)
true

>

The > operator compares the left and right operands and, if the left operand is greater than the right operand, returns true. Otherwise returns false.

SELECT 3 > 2
Int64(3) > Int64(2)
true

>=

The >= operator compares the left and right operands and, if the left operand is greater than or equal to the right operand, returns true. Otherwise returns false.

SELECT 3 >= 2
Int64(3) >= Int64(2)
true

<

The < operator compares the left and right operands and, if the left operand is less than the right operand, returns true. Otherwise returns false.

SELECT 1 < 2
Int641(1) < Int64(2)
true

<=

The <= operator compares the left and right operands and, if the left operand is less than or equal to the right operand, returns true. Otherwise returns false.

SELECT 1 <= 2
Int641(1) <= Int64(2)
true

IS DISTINCT FROM

The IS DISTINCT FROM operator is a NULL-safe operator that returns true if both operands are not equal; otherwise, it returns false. This operator guarantees the result of a comparison is true or false and not an empty set.

SELECT 0 IS DISTINCT FROM NULL
Int64(0) IS DISTINCT FROM NULL
true

IS NOT DISTINCT FROM

The IS NOT DISTINCT FROM operator is a NULL-safe operator that returns true if both operands are equal or NULL; otherwise, it returns false. This operator negates IS DISTINCT FROM.

SELECT NULL IS NOT DISTINCT FROM NULL
NULL IS NOT DISTINCT FROM NULL
true

~

The ~ operator compares the left string operand to the right regular expression operand and, if it matches (case-sensitive), returns true. Otherwise returns false.

SELECT 'abc' ~ 'a.*'
Utf8(“abc”) ~ Utf8(“a.*”)
true

~*

The ~* operator compares the left string operand to the right regular expression operand and, if it matches (case-insensitive), returns true. Otherwise returns false.

SELECT 'Abc' ~* 'A.*'
Utf8(“Abc”) ~* Utf8(“A.*”)
true

!~

The !~ operator compares the left string operand to the right regular expression operand and, if it does not match (case-sensitive), returns true. Otherwise returns false.

SELECT 'abc' !~ 'd.*'
Utf8(“abc”) !~ Utf8(“d.*”)
true

!~*

The !~* operator compares the left string operand to the right regular expression operand and, if it does not match (case-insensitive), returns true. Otherwise returns false.

SELECT 'Abc' !~* 'a.*'
Utf8(“Abc”) !~* Utf8(“a.*”)
false

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