SQL Operators

The operators are symbols (and keywords) that are used to perform operations with values.

These operators are used with SQL clauses such as: SELECT, WHERE, ON etc.

The operators in SQL can be categorized as:

  • Arithmetic operators
  • Comparison operators
  • Logical operators

SQL Arithmetic Operators

Arithmetic operators perform simple arithmetic operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication etc.

Operator Description
+ Addition
- Subtraction
* Multiplication
/ Divide
% Modulo (Remainder)

Addition Operator

-- returns new column named total_amount which is 
-- 100 added to the amount field
SELECT item, amount, amount+100 AS total_amount
FROM Orders;

Subtraction Operator

-- returns new column named offer_price which is 
-- 20 subtracted to the amount field
SELECT item, amount, amount-20 AS offer_price
FROM Orders;

Multiplication Operator

-- returns new column named total_amount  which is 
-- 4 multiplied to the amount field
SELECT item, amount, amount*4 AS total_amount
FROM Orders;

Division Operator

-- returns new column named half_amount which is 
-- divided by 2 to the amount field
SELECT item, amount, amount/2 AS half_amount
FROM Orders;

Modulo (Remainder) Operator

-- returns 1 which is remainder
SELECT 10 % 3 AS result;

Comparison Operators

We can compare two values using comparison operators in SQL. These operators return either 1 (means true) or 0 (means false).

Operator Description
= Equal to
< Less than
> Greater than
<= Less than or equal to
>= Greater than or equal to
<>, != Not equal to

Equal to Operator

-- returns records where customer_id is only 4
SELECT order_id, item, amount
FROM Orders
WHERE customer_id = 4;

Less Than Operator

-- returns records where amount is less than 400 (exclusive)
SELECT order_id, item, amount
FROM Orders
WHERE amount < 400;

Greater Than Operator

-- returns records where amount is greater than 400 (exclusive)
SELECT order_id, item, amount
FROM Orders
WHERE amount > 400;

Less Than or Equal to Operator

-- returns records where amount is less than or equal to 400
SELECT order_id, item, amount
FROM Orders
WHERE amount <= 400;

Greater Than or Equal to Operator

-- returns records where amount is greater than or equal to 400
SELECT order_id, item, amount
FROM Orders
WHERE amount >= 400;

Not Equal to Operator

-- returns records where amount is not equal to 400
SELECT order_id, item, amount
FROM Orders
WHERE amount != 400;

Instead of !=, we can also use the <> symbol for not equal operations.


Logical Operators

We can use logical operators to compare multiple SQL commands. These operators return either 1 (means true) or 0 (means false).

Logical operators available in SQL are,

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