For the purpose of comparison, we can use number values as an argument in STRCMP() function. They are given as arguments without quotes. Following example will demonstrate it.
Example
mysql> Select STRCMP(10,10)As 'Equal Numbers', STRCMP(11,10)AS '2nd Smaller', STRCMP(10,11)AS '1st Smaller', STRCMP(10,NULL)As '2nd NULL',STRCMP(NULL,10)AS '1st NULL',STRCMP(NULL,NULL)AS 'Both NULL'; +---------------+-------------+-------------+----------+----------+-----------+ | Equal Numbers | 2nd Smaller | 1st Smaller | 2nd NULL | 1st NULL | Both NULL | +---------------+-------------+-------------+----------+----------+-----------+ | 0 | 1 | -1 | NULL | NULL | NULL | +---------------+-------------+-------------+----------+----------+-----------+ 1 row in set (0.00 sec)