not-equal-to-transact-sql-traditional.md

description	Not Equal To (Transact SQL) - traditional
title	<> (Not Equal To) (Transact-SQL) | Microsoft Docs
ms.custom
ms.date	03/13/2017
ms.prod	sql
ms.prod_service	database-engine, sql-database, sql-data-warehouse, pdw
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ms.technology	t-sql
ms.topic	language-reference
f1_keywords	<> <>_TSQL Not Equal To Not Equal <>(Not Equal To) NOT Equal
dev_langs	TSQL
helpviewer_keywords	not equal to operator (<>) <> (not equal to operator)
ms.assetid	34cf9b38-d589-4be9-925a-116e224609a0
author	rothja
ms.author	jroth
monikerRange	>=aps-pdw-2016||=azuresqldb-current||=azure-sqldw-latest||>=sql-server-2016||=sqlallproducts-allversions||>=sql-server-linux-2017||=azuresqldb-mi-current

Not Equal To (Transact SQL) - traditional

[!INCLUDE sql-asdb-asdbmi-asa-pdw]

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  

[!INCLUDEsql-server-tsql-previous-offline-documentation]

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;  
  

[!INCLUDEssResult]

ProductCategoryID Name  
----------------- --------------------------------------------------  
1                 Bikes  
4                 Accessories  
  
(2 row(s) affected)  
  

See Also

Data Types (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
Comparison Operators (Transact-SQL)