What is difference between != and <> operators in Sql Server?
Since both are used as not operator. E.g :
select * from TableName where ColName <> value
or
select * from TableName where ColName != value
returns same values (Rows).
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juergen d
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Ankush Madankar
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12Nothing.............. – Mitch Wheat Aug 02 '13 at 11:10
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10<> is easier to type because the keys are closer together. – Dan Bracuk Aug 02 '13 at 11:53
2 Answers
65
There is no difference. You can use both in MSSQL.
!=functions the same as the<>(Not Equal To) comparison operator.
But <> is defined in the ANSI 99 SQL standard and != is not. So not all DB engines may support it and if you want to generate portable code I recommend using <>.
juergen d
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Most of the databases support both != and <> as not equal comparison operators. <> means either less than or greater than (i.e. not equal to) and was introduced because not all the keyboards used to have the exclamation ! key (a long time ago). Some databases like Oracle also support ^= for not equals.
Ravi K Thapliyal
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