MySQL Operators

Updated May 9, 2023

Introduction to MySQL Operators

MySQL comes with special characters or words to perform certain operations. MySQL Operators are applied to the operands to carry out specific operations.

What are Operators in MySQL?

Operators are used to specify a condition in a statement in MySQL. Below are the different types of operators used in MySQL.

1. Arithmetic Operators

In MySQL, arithmetic operators are used to perform the arithmetic operations as described below.

Arithmetic Operators in MySQL
Operator	Description	Example
+	Addition of two operands	a + b
–	Subtraction of the right operand from the left operand	a – b
*	Multiplication of two operands	a * b
/	Division of the left operand by the right operand	a / b
%	Modulus – the remainder of the division of the left operand by the right	a % b

The following are a few examples of operations using Arithmetic Operators.

Let us assume certain values for the below variables as

a = 10 , b = 5

• a + b will give the result as 15.
• a – b will give the result as 5.
• a * b will give the result as 50.
• a / b will give the result as 2.
• a % b will give the result as 0.

2. Comparison Operators

The comparison operators in MySql are used to compare values between operands and return true or false according to the condition specified in the statement.

Comparison Operators in MySQL
Operator	Description	Example
>	If the value of the left operand is greater than that of the value of the right operand, the condition becomes true; if not, then false.	a > b
<	If the value of the left operand is less than that of the value of the right operand, the condition becomes true; if not, then false.	a < b
=	If both the operands have equal value, the condition becomes true; if not, then false.	a == b
!=	If both the operands do not have equal value, the condition becomes true; if not, then false.	a != y
>=	If the value of the left operand is greater than or equal to the right, the condition becomes true; if not, then false.	a >= b
<=	If the value of the left operand is less than or equal to the right, the condition becomes true; if not, then false.	a <= b
!<	If the value of the left operand is not less than that of the right, the condition becomes true; if not, then false.	a !< b
!>	If the value of the left operand is not greater than that of the right, the condition becomes true; if not, then false.	a !> b
<>	If the values of two operands are not equal, the condition becomes true; if not, then false.	a <> b

Let us take an example of the EMPLOYEE table, as shown below, to understand how to use the comparison operators stated above while performing MySQL queries.

ID	NAME	AGE	SALARY
4	Sushma	32	35000.00
6	Ritu	23	23000.00
8	Amit	27	30000.00
11	Harish	35	35000.00
18	Pooja	28	29500.00

Let us use the different comparison operators to query the EMPLOYEE table, as shown below.

SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE SALARY > 25000;

ID	NAME	AGE	SALARY
4	Sushma	32	35000.00
8	Amit	27	30000.00
11	Harish	35	35000.00
18	Pooja	28	29500.00

SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE SALARY = 35000;

ID	NAME	AGE	SALARY
4	Sushma	32	35000.00
11	Harish	35	35000.00

SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE SALARY < 35000;

ID	NAME	AGE	SALARY
6	Ritu	23	23000.00
8	Amit	27	30000.00
18	Pooja	28	29500.00

SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE SALARY != 30000;

ID	NAME	AGE	SALARY
4	Sushma	32	35000.00
6	Ritu	23	23000.00
11	Harish	35	35000.00
18	Pooja	28	29500.00

SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE SALARY <> 35000;

ID	NAME	AGE	SALARY
6	Ritu	23	23000.00
8	Amit	27	30000.00
18	Pooja	28	29500.00

3. Logical Operators

The logical operators used in MySQL are shown below.

Logical Operators in MySQL
Operator	Description
BETWEEN	It is used to search within a set of values by the minimum value and maximum value provided.
EXISTS	It is used to search for a row in a table that satisfies a specific condition specified in the query.
OR	It combines multiple conditions in a statement by using the WHERE clause.
AND	It allows multiple conditions in an SQL statement’s WHERE clause.
NOT	It reverses the meaning of the logical operator with which it is used. (Examples: NOT EXISTS, NOT BETWEEN, NOT IN, etc.)
IN	It is used to compare a value in a list of literal values.
ALL	It compares a value to all values in another set of values.
ANY	It compares a value to any value in the list according to the condition specified.
LIKE	It uses wildcard operators to compare a value to similar values.
IS NULL	It compares a value with a NULL value.
UNIQUE	It searches for every row of a specified table for uniqueness (no duplicates).

Let us take the example of the same EMPLOYEE table as shown above to understand the usage of logical operators in the below queries.

SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE AGE <= 25 AND SALARY >= 5000;

ID	NAME	AGE	SALARY
6	Ritu	23	23000.00

SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE AGE >= 25 OR SALARY >= 25000;

ID	NAME	AGE	SALARY
4	Sushma	32	35000.00
8	Amit	27	30000.00
11	Harish	35	35000.00
18	Pooja	28	29500.00

SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE AGE IS NOT NULL;

ID	NAME	AGE	SALARY
4	Sushma	32	35000.00
6	Ritu	23	23000.00
8	Amit	27	30000.00
11	Harish	35	35000.00
18	Pooja	28	29500.00

SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE NAME LIKE 'Am%';

ID	NAME	AGE	SALARY
8	Amit	27	30000.00

SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE AGE BETWEEN 25 AND 30;

ID	NAME	AGE	SALARY
8	Amit	27	30000.00
18	Pooja	28	29500.00

SELECT NAME FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE EXISTS (SELECT NAME FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE SALARY > 25000);

NAME

Sushma

Amit

Harish

Pooja

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