PostgreSQL
9.2. Comparison Functions and Operators #
The usual comparison operators are available, as shown in Table 9.1.
Table 9.1. Comparison Operators
| Operator | Description |
|---|---|
`datatype |
Less than |
`datatype |
Greater than |
`datatype |
Less than or equal to |
`datatype |
Greater than or equal to |
`datatype |
Equal |
`datatype |
Not equal |
`datatype |
Not equal |
+
Note
<> is the standard SQL notation for “[.quote]#not equal”#. != is an alias, which is converted to <> at a very early stage of parsing. Hence, it is not possible to implement != and <> operators that do different things.
These comparison operators are available for all built-in data types that have a natural ordering, including numeric, string, and date/time types. In addition, arrays, composite types, and ranges can be compared if their component data types are comparable.
It is usually possible to compare values of related data types as well; for example integer > bigint will work. Some cases of this sort are implemented directly by “[.quote]#cross-type”# comparison operators, but if no such operator is available, the parser will coerce the less-general type to the more-general type and apply the latter’s comparison operator.
As shown above, all comparison operators are binary operators that return values of type boolean. Thus, expressions like 1 < 2 < 3 are not valid (because there is no < operator to compare a Boolean value with 3). Use the BETWEEN predicates shown below to perform range tests.
There are also some comparison predicates, as shown in Table 9.2. These behave much like operators, but have special syntax mandated by the SQL standard.
Table 9.2. Comparison Predicates
| Predicate Description Example(s) |
|---|
`datatype Between (inclusive of the range endpoints).
|
`datatype Not between (the negation of
|
`datatype Between, after sorting the two endpoint values.
|
`datatype Not between, after sorting the two endpoint values.
|
`datatype Not equal, treating null as a comparable value.
|
`datatype Equal, treating null as a comparable value.
|
`datatype Test whether value is null.
|
`datatype Test whether value is not null.
|
`datatype Test whether value is null (nonstandard syntax). |
`datatype Test whether value is not null (nonstandard syntax). |
Test whether boolean expression yields true.
|
Test whether boolean expression yields false or unknown.
|
Test whether boolean expression yields false.
|
Test whether boolean expression yields true or unknown.
|
Test whether boolean expression yields unknown.
|
Test whether boolean expression yields true or false.
|
+
The `+BETWEEN+` predicate simplifies range tests:
a BETWEEN x AND yis equivalent to
a >= x AND a <= yNotice that BETWEEN treats the endpoint values as included in the range. BETWEEN SYMMETRIC is like BETWEEN except there is no requirement that the argument to the left of AND be less than or equal to the argument on the right. If it is not, those two arguments are automatically swapped, so that a nonempty range is always implied.
The various variants of BETWEEN are implemented in terms of the ordinary comparison operators, and therefore will work for any data type(s) that can be compared.
Note
The use of AND in the BETWEEN syntax creates an ambiguity with the use of AND as a logical operator. To resolve this, only a limited set of expression types are allowed as the second argument of a BETWEEN clause. If you need to write a more complex sub-expression in BETWEEN, write parentheses around the sub-expression.
Ordinary comparison operators yield null (signifying [.quote]#“[.quote]#unknown#”#), not true or false, when either input is null. For example, `+7 = NULL+` yields null, as does `+7 <> NULL+`. When this behavior is not suitable, use the `+IS [ +`[.optional]#`+NOT+`#`+ ] DISTINCT FROM+` predicates:
a IS DISTINCT FROM b
a IS NOT DISTINCT FROM bFor non-null inputs, IS DISTINCT FROM is the same as the <> operator. However, if both inputs are null it returns false, and if only one input is null it returns true. Similarly, IS NOT DISTINCT FROM is identical to = for non-null inputs, but it returns true when both inputs are null, and false when only one input is null. Thus, these predicates effectively act as though null were a normal data value, rather than “[.quote]#unknown”#.
To check whether a value is or is not null, use the predicates:
expression IS NULL
expression IS NOT NULLor the equivalent, but nonstandard, predicates:
expression ISNULL
expression NOTNULLDo not write `expression+ = NULL+` because NULL is not “[.quote]#equal to”# NULL. (The null value represents an unknown value, and it is not known whether two unknown values are equal.)
Tip
Some applications might expect that `expression+ = NULL+` returns true if `expression evaluates to the null value. It is highly recommended that these applications be modified to comply with the SQL standard. However, if that cannot be done the transform_null_equals configuration variable is available. If it is enabled, PostgreSQL will convert `x = NULL clauses to x IS NULL.
If the `expression is row-valued, then `IS NULL is true when the row expression itself is null or when all the row’s fields are null, while IS NOT NULL is true when the row expression itself is non-null and all the row’s fields are non-null. Because of this behavior, IS NULL and IS NOT NULL do not always return inverse results for row-valued expressions; in particular, a row-valued expression that contains both null and non-null fields will return false for both tests. In some cases, it may be preferable to write `row `IS DISTINCT FROM NULL or `row `IS NOT DISTINCT FROM NULL, which will simply check whether the overall row value is null without any additional tests on the row fields.
Boolean values can also be tested using the predicates
boolean_expression IS TRUE
boolean_expression IS NOT TRUE
boolean_expression IS FALSE
boolean_expression IS NOT FALSE
boolean_expression IS UNKNOWN
boolean_expression IS NOT UNKNOWNThese will always return true or false, never a null value, even when the operand is null. A null input is treated as the logical value “[.quote]#unknown”#. Notice that IS UNKNOWN and IS NOT UNKNOWN are effectively the same as IS NULL and IS NOT NULL, respectively, except that the input expression must be of Boolean type.
Some comparison-related functions are also available, as shown in Table 9.3.
Table 9.3. Comparison Functions
| Function Description Example(s) |
|---|
`+num_nonnulls+` ( `+VARIADIC+` `+"any"+` ) → `+integer+` Returns the number of non-null arguments.
|
`+num_nulls+` ( `+VARIADIC+` `+"any"+` ) → `+integer+` Returns the number of null arguments.
|
+
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|---|---|---|
9.1. Logical Operators |
9.3. Mathematical Functions and Operators |
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