<> (Not Equal To) (Transact-SQL)
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).
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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.
USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
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)