The symbol <> in MySQL is same as not equal to operator (!=). Both gives the result in boolean or tinyint(1). If the condition becomes true, then the result will be 1 otherwise 0.
Case 1 − Using != operator.
The query is as follows −
mysql> select 3!=5;
The following is the output.
+------+ | 3!=5 | +------+ | 1 | +------+ 1 row in set (0.00 sec)
Case 2 − Using <> operator.
The query is as follows −
mysql> select 3 <> 5;
The following is the output.
+--------+ | 3 <> 5 | +--------+ | 1 | +--------+ 1 row in set (0.00 sec)
The <> operator can be used to return a set of rows from the table. The <> is a standard ANSI SQL.
Let us first create a table. The query to create a table is as follows −
mysql> create table NotEqualOperator -> ( -> StudentId int, -> StudentName varchar(100), -> StudentSection varchar(10) -> ); Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.78 sec)
Insert some records in the table using insert command. The query is as follows.
mysql> insert into NotEqualOperator values(1,'John','A'); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.19 sec) mysql> insert into NotEqualOperator values(2,'Carol','B'); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.19 sec) mysql> insert into NotEqualOperator values(3,'Sam','A'); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.15 sec) mysql> insert into NotEqualOperator values(4,'Mike','B'); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.23 sec) mysql> insert into NotEqualOperator values(5,'Bob','B'); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.19 sec) mysql> insert into NotEqualOperator values(6,'David','B'); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.14 sec) mysql> insert into NotEqualOperator values(7,'Ramit','A'); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.18 sec)
Display all records from the table using select statement. The query is as follows.
mysql> select *from NotEqualOperator;
The following is the output.
+-----------+-------------+----------------+ | StudentId | StudentName | StudentSection | +-----------+-------------+----------------+ | 1 | John | A | | 2 | Carol | B | | 3 | Sam | A | | 4 | Mike | B | | 5 | Bob | B | | 6 | David | B | | 7 | Ramit | A | +-----------+-------------+----------------+ 7 rows in set (0.00 sec)
As discussed above, the <> operator can be used to return a set of rows. Now filter the above table to get those students only that does not belong to section A.
The query is as follows.
mysql> select *from NotEqualOperator where StudentSection <>'A';
The following is the output.
+-----------+-------------+----------------+ | StudentId | StudentName | StudentSection | +-----------+-------------+----------------+ | 2 | Carol | B | | 4 | Mike | B | | 5 | Bob | B | | 6 | David | B | +-----------+-------------+----------------+ 4 rows in set (0.00 sec)