Not Equal To (Transact SQL) - traditional
Applies to: SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance Azure Synapse Analytics Analytics Platform System (PDW) SQL analytics endpoint in Microsoft Fabric Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric
Compares two expressions (a comparison operator). When you compare nonnull expressions, the result is TRUE if the left operand is not equal to the right operand; otherwise, the result is FALSE. If either or both operands are NULL, see the topic SET ANSI_NULLS (Transact-SQL).
Transact-SQL syntax conventions
Syntax
expression <> expression
Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression. Both expressions must have implicitly convertible data types. The conversion depends on the rules of data type precedence.
Result Types
Boolean
Examples
A. Using <> in a simple query
The following example returns all rows in the Production.ProductCategory
table that do not have value in ProductCategoryID
that is equal to the value 3 or the value 2.
-- Uses AdventureWorks
SELECT ProductCategoryID, Name
FROM Production.ProductCategory
WHERE ProductCategoryID <> 3 AND ProductCategoryID <> 2;
Here is the result set.
ProductCategoryID Name
----------------- --------------------------------------------------
1 Bikes
4 Accessories
(2 row(s) affected)
See Also
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
Comparison Operators (Transact-SQL)