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title <> (Not Equal To) (Transact-SQL)
description Compares two expressions and returns TRUE if the left operand isn't equal to the right operand.
author rwestMSFT
ms.author randolphwest
ms.date 05/07/2026
ms.service sql
ms.subservice t-sql
ms.topic reference
ms.custom
ignite-2025
f1_keywords
<>
<>_TSQL
helpviewer_keywords
not equal to operator (<>)
<> (not equal to operator)
dev_langs
TSQL
monikerRange >=aps-pdw-2016 || =azuresqldb-current || =azure-sqldw-latest || >=sql-server-2016 || >=sql-server-linux-2017 || =azuresqldb-mi-current || =fabric || =fabric-sqldb

Not equal to (Transact-SQL) - traditional

[!INCLUDE sql-asdb-asdbmi-asa-pdw-fabricse-fabricdw-fabricsqldb]

Compares two expressions (a comparison operator). When you compare non-null expressions, the result is TRUE if the left operand isn't equal to the right operand. Otherwise, the result is FALSE. If either or both operands are NULL, see SET ANSI_NULLS.

:::image type="icon" source="../../includes/media/topic-link-icon.svg" border="false"::: Transact-SQL syntax conventions

Syntax

expression <> expression

Arguments

expression

Any valid expression. Both expressions must have implicitly convertible data types. The conversion depends on the rules of data type precedence.

Return types

Boolean

Examples

[!INCLUDE article-uses-adventureworks]

A. Use <> in a simple query

The following example returns all rows in the Production.ProductCategory table that don't have a value in ProductCategoryID that equals 3 or 2.

SELECT ProductCategoryID,
       Name
FROM Production.ProductCategory
WHERE ProductCategoryID <> 3
      AND ProductCategoryID <> 2;

[!INCLUDE ssResult]

ProductCategoryID  Name
------------------ ----------------------
1                  Bikes
4                  Accessories

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