Use of Exclamation Mark?

[Dashley]

Hi,

Im looking at sombody elses code and they have in a stored procedure:

IF @TermList != ''

I'm wondering whats the exclamation mark used for?



Thanks

Dan

 

[SQLDenis]

IF @TermList != '' is the same as
IF @TermList <> ''

http://sqlservercode.blogspot.com/

 

[gmmastros]

!= means Not Equal To. Some people write it like... <>

-George

Strong and bitter words indicate a weak cause. - Fortune cookie wisdom

 

[Dashley]

SqlDenis

Wow thanks for the fast response. It was really bugging me. Is it a common practice to use ! instead of <> ?
I havent seen it used before.

Thanks again

Dan

 

[Jasen]

It's more common in other programming languages than SQL, but still not all that uncommon.

 

[SQLBill]

The use of the exclamation for NOT (!=, !>, !<) is NOT SQL-92 standard. And like anything not SQL-92 standard, Microsoft will not guarantee that it will always be supported in future versions.

-SQLBill

Posting advice: FAQ481-4875