--- title: "<> (Not Equal To) (Transact-SQL) | Microsoft Docs" ms.custom: "" ms.date: "03/13/2017" ms.prod: sql ms.prod_service: "database-engine, sql-database, sql-data-warehouse, pdw" ms.reviewer: "" ms.technology: t-sql ms.topic: "language-reference" f1_keywords: - "<>" - "<>_TSQL" - "Not Equal To" - "Not Equal" - "<>(Not Equal To)" - "NOT" - "Equal" dev_langs: - "TSQL" helpviewer_keywords: - "not equal to operator (<>)" - "<> (not equal to operator)" ms.assetid: 34cf9b38-d589-4be9-925a-116e224609a0 author: rothja ms.author: jroth monikerRange: ">=aps-pdw-2016||=azuresqldb-current||=azure-sqldw-latest||>=sql-server-2016||=sqlallproducts-allversions||>=sql-server-linux-2017||=azuresqldb-mi-current" --- # Not Equal To (Transact SQL) - traditional [!INCLUDE[tsql-appliesto-ss2008-all-md](../../includes/tsql-appliesto-ss2008-all-md.md)] Compares two expressions (a comparison operator). When you compare nonnull expressions, the result is TRUE if the left operand is not equal to the right operand; otherwise, the result is FALSE. If either or both operands are NULL, see the topic [SET ANSI_NULLS (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/statements/set-ansi-nulls-transact-sql.md). ![Topic link icon](../../database-engine/configure-windows/media/topic-link.gif "Topic link icon") [Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions](../../t-sql/language-elements/transact-sql-syntax-conventions-transact-sql.md) ## Syntax ``` expression <> expression ``` ## Arguments *expression* Is any valid [expression](../../t-sql/language-elements/expressions-transact-sql.md). Both expressions must have implicitly convertible data types. The conversion depends on the rules of [data type precedence](../../t-sql/data-types/data-type-precedence-transact-sql.md). ## Result Types **Boolean** ## Examples ### A. Using <> in a simple query The following example returns all rows in the `Production.ProductCategory` table that do not have value in `ProductCategoryID` that is equal to the value 3 or the value 2. ``` -- Uses AdventureWorks SELECT ProductCategoryID, Name FROM Production.ProductCategory WHERE ProductCategoryID <> 3 AND ProductCategoryID <> 2; ``` [!INCLUDE[ssResult](../../includes/ssresult-md.md)] ``` ProductCategoryID Name ----------------- -------------------------------------------------- 1 Bikes 4 Accessories (2 row(s) affected) ``` ## See Also [Data Types (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/data-types/data-types-transact-sql.md) [Operators (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/language-elements/operators-transact-sql.md) [Comparison Operators (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/language-elements/comparison-operators-transact-sql.md)