List of Operators In SQL [With Examples]

Updated on 18 November, 2022

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We have to perform several operations to retrieve or alter any existing data from the database. SQL offers several operators to perform database management system operations. Here through this article, we will discuss several SQL operators and some basic information and examples. Let us discuss operators in SQL now.

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What are Operators?

SQL Operators are like SQL keywords that can perform arithmetic, comparison, and logical operations. They are like conjunctions and can be used to specify the operations and conditions in SQL statements. They can serve multiple conditions in the statement like:

Arithmetic Operators
Logical Operators
Comparison Operators

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As there are several types of operators in SQL anyone can take any SQL course to learn more operators. Let us understand them with examples in the next section.

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Operators in SQL

1. Arithmetic Operators

Arithmetic operators can be used to perform arithmetic operations that include addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

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Operator

Operator	Operation	Description

+	Addition	This operator is used to add two given values
–	Subtraction	To subtract the two given values, we can use this operator
*	Multiplication	If we have to multiply the two given values, then we can use this operator
/	Division	To divide the two given values, we can use the division operator
%	Modulus	This operator returns the remainder obtained by dividing the two given values

Example of Arithmetic Operators in SQL:

SELECT 80 + 10;

SELECT 80 – 10;

SELECT 80 * 10;

SELECT 80 / 10;

SELECT 80 % 10;

The output of the above SQL commands with arithmetic operators will be:

800

So, these are the arithmetic operators of SQL. Let us now see the Comparison operators in SQL.

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2. Comparison Operators in SQL

Comparison operators are used to comparing the two values that may be either less than or greater than or equal to each other. The table of comparison operators is:

Operator	Operation	Description
=	Equal to	To compare the two values, we can use this operator.
>	Greater than	This Boolean operator returns TRUE if the value of the left operand is greater than the right operand value.
<	Less than	This Boolean operator returns TRUE if the value of the left operand is less than the right operand value.
<=	Less than or Equal to	This Boolean operator returns TRUE if the value of the left operand is less than or equal to the right operand value.
>=	Greater than or Equal to	This Boolean operator returns TRUE if the value of the left operand is greater than or equal to the right operand value.
< > Or !=	Not Equal to	This operator is used to check whether the two given values are equal to each other or not.
! >	Not greater than	To check whether the left operand is greater than or not than the right operand and this operator returns TRUE if it is found the truth.
!<	Not less than	To check whether the left operand is less than or not than the right operand and this operator returns TRUE if it is found the truth.

To compare the logical values, these operators are used in SQL. Now let us discuss a few of the

logical operators in SQL.

Example of “=”,”<” and “>” Operator

SELECT * FROM Employees WHERE Age = 20;

SELECT * FROM Employees WHERE Age < 20;

SELECT * FROM Employees WHERE Age > 20;

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3. Logical Operators in SQL

Let us now discuss the logical operators in SQL. There are few cases as specified in the following table where we can use these logical operators:

Operator	Where to Use the Operator?
ALL	This operator is used to compare some specific values to the rest of the values of any set.
ANY	To compare any specific value of a set to the rest of the values, we can use this operator.
IN	To compare any specific value to the literals, we can use this operator.
BETWEEN	To search any value within a given range, we can use this operator.
AND and OR	These operators are used to define multiple conditions in the WHERE clause.
NOT	To reverse the output of the logical operator, the NOT operator can be used.
LIKE	If we want to compare a pattern through wildcard operators, then we can use the LIKE operator.
SOME	To compare some of the values to any specific value,we can use the SOME operator.
EXISTS	We can use this operator to search the presence of any row in the table.

Example of BETWEEN and IN Operators

SELECT * FROM Employees WHERE Age BETWEEN 20 AND 40;

SELECT * FROM Employees WHERE Age IN (‘20’,‘ 40’);

These two queries are examples of SQL operators.

Related Read: SQL Project Ideas & Topics

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Conclusion

SQL has many uses and operators, and you can use and practice these operators to know more about them. SQL operators help in fast data processing. Moreover, to compare any two values, these operators can be directly used. The operators are being asked during many interviews of fresher and experienced candidates. Learning SQL commands and an operator can help you in clearing interviews.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What is SQL?

SQL stands for Structured Query Language and is a programming language designed to retrieve and manipulate data stored in relational database management systems. SQL is a standard, language-independent programming language. A programmer uses Structured Query Language to communicate with the database, with or without the support of a database manager.

2. What is the difference between relational and non-relational database?

Relational database is a subset of a non-relational database. The relational database consists of tables with a primary key and other columns that comprise the rows. It is free of any redundant data and it can be joined and/or related. Non-relational database (or non-SQL database) uses a different approach. It doesn't use tables at all, it works on the concept of documents. It may have a tree structure or it may be a graph structure. Relational databases store data in tables, which are made of rows and columns, data is related and arranged to the other data with joins, indexes, constraints and keys. On the other hand, non-relational databases are not hierarchical as relational databases and they store data as documents. Non-relational databases are not using joins to relate data, they use references within the document.

3. What are the applications of SQL?

There are very few computer languages that can beat the popularity of SQL in terms of nature and scope. The popular programming languages like C, C++, PHP, Perl, Python are designed for general purpose scripting and that is the sole reason for their popularity and the scope. However, in the case of SQL, it is a language designed for handling data in the form of tables, data structure and queries. The popularity of this language can be testified by the fact that it is included in almost every database product having different name as FoxPro SQL, Oracle SQL and MS SQL Server. Though this language includes a vast range of databases, it is not exactly the same. For instance, FoxPro SQL is a dialect of Sybase SQL, while Oracle SQL is a dialect of PostgreSQL language.

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